It was a humiliating World Cup, but the Asian Cup was different.
Qatar defeated Lebanon 3-0 in the first match of Group A of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar early on Wednesday (KST).
It was a welcome first win for Qatar, who will be looking for their second straight Asian Cup title.
The Qataris were led by a multi-goal performance from striker Hassan Afif as they cruised to a 3-0 victory.
Afif opened the scoring in the 45th minute off a pass from Almoez Ali.
Ali added a second goal 11 minutes into the second half to make it 2-0.
Cheered on by their home fans, Qatar gave it their all down the stretch.
In the 51st minute, Afif scored again to complete the rout.
With two goals in the opening match, Afif quickly became the tournament’s leading scorer.
The hosts, Qatar, won the 2019 Asian Cup. 카지노사이트가이드
They defeated South Korea 1-0 in the quarterfinals.
The momentum carried them to a 4-0 win over the UAE in the quarterfinals and a 3-1 victory over Japan in the final.
Qatar went 7-0-1, scoring 19 goals and conceding just one.
The one goal they conceded in the final to Japan was their only goal of the tournament.
But the gap between Asia and the rest of the world was vast.
Qatar entered the 2022 World Cup as the host nation.