The AFC Asian Cup final is set. Japan, the winningest team in the history of the competition, will take on Qatar, trying to prove it can actually play the sport before hosting the 2022 World Cup. But Qatar making it through the AFC Asian Cup Semifinals did not come without controversy.
Qatar reached the AFC Asian Cup semifinals by edging South Korea in the Maroons’ first big upset of the tournament, although you could argue Qatar beating Saudi Arabia was a pretty big upset too.
The semifinal saw Qatar win 4-0 over the tournament host, United Arab Emirates, which itself had pulled off an unlikely win in the quarterfinals, knocking off Australia thanks to one horrible back pass.
UAE, like many other Middle Eastern nations, does not get along with Qatar these days. UAE, along with countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and Jordan, has cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar, creating an embargo of Qatari goods and people.
Qatari fans are not allowed to attend the AFC Asian Cup in UAE and even showing sympathy for Qatar can land you in prison, so there was plenty of tension in the stadium before the match even started, with fans booing the Qatari national anthem.
Wow LOUD booing during the playing of the Qatar National Anthem #AFCAsianCup2019 #BlockadeDerby pic.twitter.com/In3CjgETqs
— Jordan Gardner (@mrjordangardner) January 29, 2019
Fans began to groan when the home side gave up the first goal on an absolute howler, Boualem Khoukhi’s speculative effort from the edge of the box skipping right underneath UAE keeper Khalid Eisa.
A boiling point was reached before halftime when Almoez Ali, who leads the tournament with eight goals, put Qatar up 2-0 in the 37th minute. It was a fantastic goal, but Ali seemed to taunt the crowd afterword, doing a little dance in front of some UAE fans.
Angry fans responded as angry fans do: by throwing shit. In this case, shoes.
Fans throwing shoes at the Qatari players after they score their 2nd goal pic.twitter.com/zCxyhZeWOc
— Jordan Gardner (@mrjordangardner) January 29, 2019
Any sort of physical attack (be it throwing a shoe, throwing a punch or throwing a tomato) is unacceptable anywhere and these fans should be punished. You feel bad for the guys on the sideline trying to tell the fans to cut it out.
Shoe throwing as a form of protest and insult has been around of centuries, perhaps most notably when George W. Bush was on the receiving end in 2008 and deftly dodged the attack.
LOL remember when an Egyptian threw a shoe at George bush? pic.twitter.com/04jwtX3jEf
— Laura (@womaninmedicine) November 18, 2018
The UAE fans didn’t have much to cheer about in the second half, either.
Hasan Khalid Al Haydos sealed the match in the 80th minute with this nice solo effort. The Qatari striker appears to have taken a blow to the back from Faris Juma after the goal; although Al Haydos made a meal of it, Juma went unpunished.
Ismail Ahmed wasn’t so lucky in stoppage time. VAR caught his indefensible elbow to the head of Salem Al Hajri and he was promptly expelled from the match.
Sadly, this sort of behavior isn’t anything new from UAE. Just look what happened at a U-23 match against Malaysia last year.
Qatar then rubbed salt in the wounds by scoring once more, Hamid Ismail doing the honors to complete the scoring in the AFC Asian Cup semifinals.
The Maroons finished the match with four goals from five shots on target (seven total shots) but deserved the win, if nothing else than because of the appalling behavior of UAE players and fans.
Qatar will face Japan in the AFC Asian Cup final on Friday in Abu Dhabi. Don’t expect anyone to be rooting for the tiny nation at the Zayed Sports City Stadium.
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