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After 51 games and a record 130 goals, the AFC Asian Cup has been run and won for another four years, with Qatar making history by winning the title for the first time. With the ink still drying on another memorable chapter in the competition’s proud history, here’s a look at some of the notable numbers & statistical highlights of the 17th edition of Asia’s biggest football tournament.
1 Qatar came within 21 minutes of keeping an entire tournament worth of clean sheets, but their final tally of one goal conceded still meant the champions had the most miserly defence in the tournament. It took 609 minutes for goalkeeper Saad al Sheeb to be beaten, as Qatar became the first team to reach the final by keeping six successive clean sheets.
9 Potentially the one statistic of this tournament that will become assumed knowledge for Asian football fans everywhere; tournament MVP Almoez Ali broke Ali Daei’s 23-year-old record for goals in a single a tournament with nine strikes in seven matches. The 22-year-old incredibly scored his nine goals from just 16 shots, well short of the 28 from Sardar Azmoun, who had the most attempts in the competition.
10 If Almoez Ali was he revelation of the tournament, Akram Afif was surely a close second. The Al Sadd forward earned Player of the Match honours in the final, and lit up the tournament as a whole with 10 assists, the most in recorded history. He provided the final pass for more than twice as many goals as any other player, and also created a whopping 26 chances, with Australia’s Chris Ikonomidis his nearest competitor on 14.
14 Kyrgyz Republic won the respect of the Asian football world with their fine displays in the UAE and, in dynamic defender Valeri Kichin, they had the player who executed the most interceptions in the tournament. The Akshumkar captain intercepted 14 passes from opposition players, one more than Japan’s Gaku Shibasaki.
21 Qatar’s Saad al Sheeb was deservedly crowned the tournament’s best goalkeeper, but it was Ignatiy Nesterov, appearing in a record fifth AFC Asian Cup, who made the most saves. The 35-year-old made 21 stops, but spare a thought for Jordan’s Amer Shafi, who made 20 saves in his side’s four matches, and conceded just one goal, only to face Round of 16 elimination via a penalty shootout defeat to Vietnam.
23.85 Iraq were the AFC Asian Cup’s youngest side, with an average age of 23 years and 309 days, or 23.85 years old. China PR (29 years, 212 days) were UAE 2019’s oldest side. The competition’s three youngest sides, Iraq, Vietnam and Qatar, all reached the knockout stage, although the next three youngest (India, DPR Korea and Yemen) all finished bottom of their respective groups.
32 Jamie Maclaren’s opening goal for Australia in their 3-0 win over Palestine wasn’t only his first at senior international level, but it completed the longest pass sequence for a goal in the tournament. Tom Rogic’s final ball was the 32nd pass in the build-up to the goal, with Qatar’s Abdelkarim Hassan’s goal against DPR Korea, which ended a 23-pass move, the nearest challenger.
46 Another Al Annabi star in the UAE was Boualem Khouhki, who fulfilled a variety of roles but earned the most praise for his defensive contribution to the Qatari cause, and racked up a competition-high 46 clearances. Khouki also managed to score two goals. One in the 6-0 group stage defeat of DPR Korea, and the other the vital opener in the 4-0 semi-final win over the UAE.
495 Korea Republic’s Jung Woo-young was officially the competition’s pass master, racking up 495 at an accuracy of 89.7%, despite playing only five matches. Australia had three of the top five distributors, with Trent Sainsbury, Mark Milligan and Milos Degenek all exceeding the 400-mark before the reigning champions were eliminated in the quarters. (AFC)
1 Qatar came within 21 minutes of keeping an entire tournament worth of clean sheets, but their final tally of one goal conceded still meant the champions had the most miserly defence in the tournament. It took 609 minutes for goalkeeper Saad al Sheeb to be beaten, as Qatar became the first team to reach the final by keeping six successive clean sheets.
9 Potentially the one statistic of this tournament that will become assumed knowledge for Asian football fans everywhere; tournament MVP Almoez Ali broke Ali Daei’s 23-year-old record for goals in a single a tournament with nine strikes in seven matches. The 22-year-old incredibly scored his nine goals from just 16 shots, well short of the 28 from Sardar Azmoun, who had the most attempts in the competition.
10 If Almoez Ali was he revelation of the tournament, Akram Afif was surely a close second. The Al Sadd forward earned Player of the Match honours in the final, and lit up the tournament as a whole with 10 assists, the most in recorded history. He provided the final pass for more than twice as many goals as any other player, and also created a whopping 26 chances, with Australia’s Chris Ikonomidis his nearest competitor on 14.
14 Kyrgyz Republic won the respect of the Asian football world with their fine displays in the UAE and, in dynamic defender Valeri Kichin, they had the player who executed the most interceptions in the tournament. The Akshumkar captain intercepted 14 passes from opposition players, one more than Japan’s Gaku Shibasaki.
21 Qatar’s Saad al Sheeb was deservedly crowned the tournament’s best goalkeeper, but it was Ignatiy Nesterov, appearing in a record fifth AFC Asian Cup, who made the most saves. The 35-year-old made 21 stops, but spare a thought for Jordan’s Amer Shafi, who made 20 saves in his side’s four matches, and conceded just one goal, only to face Round of 16 elimination via a penalty shootout defeat to Vietnam.
23.85 Iraq were the AFC Asian Cup’s youngest side, with an average age of 23 years and 309 days, or 23.85 years old. China PR (29 years, 212 days) were UAE 2019’s oldest side. The competition’s three youngest sides, Iraq, Vietnam and Qatar, all reached the knockout stage, although the next three youngest (India, DPR Korea and Yemen) all finished bottom of their respective groups.
32 Jamie Maclaren’s opening goal for Australia in their 3-0 win over Palestine wasn’t only his first at senior international level, but it completed the longest pass sequence for a goal in the tournament. Tom Rogic’s final ball was the 32nd pass in the build-up to the goal, with Qatar’s Abdelkarim Hassan’s goal against DPR Korea, which ended a 23-pass move, the nearest challenger.
46 Another Al Annabi star in the UAE was Boualem Khouhki, who fulfilled a variety of roles but earned the most praise for his defensive contribution to the Qatari cause, and racked up a competition-high 46 clearances. Khouki also managed to score two goals. One in the 6-0 group stage defeat of DPR Korea, and the other the vital opener in the 4-0 semi-final win over the UAE.
495 Korea Republic’s Jung Woo-young was officially the competition’s pass master, racking up 495 at an accuracy of 89.7%, despite playing only five matches. Australia had three of the top five distributors, with Trent Sainsbury, Mark Milligan and Milos Degenek all exceeding the 400-mark before the reigning champions were eliminated in the quarters. (AFC)
