AFC Asian Cup with the most goals scored has come to the end: Qatar beat Japan. Mingazov was right
February 01, 2019 | 23:20 |646
Winner of the AFC Asian Cup 2019:Georgiy ASLANAYAN
The host country of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar, secured the first biggest soccer prize in its history, beating the tournament favorite Japan, 3-1, in the Asian Cup final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, an against-the-odds victory. While Japan entered the Asian Cup hotly tipped to win a fifth title, the Qataris had not even reached the semifinals before. Takumi Minamino, who plays as a forward for Austrian club FC Red Bull, scored the only goal in the tournament to the gates of “sheikhs”, who were winning all six games
The AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 engaged with more teams in the finals and goals scored than ever before. The tournament with 24 teams played for the first time in the cup and with 124 goals scored in total became the most successful historic firsts.
Interesting Facts
- The total prize fund of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 is USD $14.8 million. The Champion Team will receive a handsome winners’ cheque of USD $5 million. The runners-up will receive USD $3 million, the losing semi-finalists USD $1 million and all 20 teams USD $240,000 as the curtains come down on the biggest-ever AFC Asian Cup.
- At the current Asian Cup, most of all are representatives from the Qatar Championships (47), who ahead of the Championships of Saudi Arabia (31), Thailand and the United Arab Emirates (27 each).
Almoez Ali, forward of the Qatar team, had his name in the history books of the AFC Asian Cup. Ali’s nine-goal haul makes him the most successful striker at a single AFC Asian Cup Finals ever with his total surpassing the great Ali Daei’s record, which was achieved the last time the tournament was played in the United Arab Emirates in 1996.
Ali as a striker caught the eye of former Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho. About the guy, whose transfer is estimated at 875 thousand euros, a Portuguese manager has already spoken on BeIN Sports:
“Almoez Ali is an excellent player who can play abroad. I have to be honest, this is not the league he can develop in. He is young; he has a good height (180 cm). Maybe in a couple of years he could play in another league.”
The players from the Russian Premier League - Eldor Shomurodov, FC Rostov, and Sardar Azmoun, FC Rubin, - are at the second and third places with 4 goals.
According to Sport-Express, Iran striker Sardar Azmoun is about completing a transfer to Russian Premier League giants FC Zenit, Saint Petersburg, from Rubin Kazan after an impressive AFC Asian Cup 2019. The transfer is at 12 million euros.
