Asian Cup/AFCON chat

And Iran surely win it with a 95th minute penalty! 2-1! 

Horrible confusion between the defenders and a very well taken penalty lifted over the keeper with pace. No chance despite going the right way. 

Watching these games the last two days has been amazing- could have been World Cup knockout games. It seems hard to feel cynical about football watching although I know I should. 

This means a lot to Iran. Look at the celebrations. 

Socceroos threw that away ay.  Combo of poor finishing and then shocking decision making in the final throws of added time cost them. Don’t think much of Korea but they never give up ay. 

Japan out is also big. Next round is gonna be hella interesting. 

So Asia Cup semis are Jordan vs South Korea, and Qatar vs Iran.

Meanwhile in AFCON, Ivory Coast keep the resurrection going with a 2-1 win over Mali (a last minute equaliser, and then a winner 2 mins into injury time in extra time) while South Africa have just beaten Cape Verde 2-1 on pens after 0-0...South African keeper with four penalty saves in the shoot out...so Semis here are as follows: 

Nigeria vs South Africa
Ivory Coast vs DR Congo

Good effort by South Africa to make the semis. Their squad is almost 100% local PSL players. Andre De Jong's Stellenbosch team mate Jayden Adams, has made 2 appearances off the subs bench, incl the win over Cape Verde. SA's squad built around PSL juggernaughts Mamelodi Sundowns

Bafana Bafana's big result was a 2-0 win over Morocco in the R16. Also in their pool they drew 0-0 with potential AWs March opponent Tunisia. Nigeria in the semis will be very tough though.

Not to kick off probably the oldest debate on this cursed website, but the Asian Cup and AFCON results have reminded me how great it would be for the All Whites to have regular meaningful continental opposition. Massive results for the likes of Congo, SA, Cape Verde, Guinea, Iraq, Indonesia, Palestine and Jordan - all of whom I think the All Whites could compete with. In either confederation we'd only ever be a couple of upsets away from a run to the quarters or semis. Sadly we're just never going to see that. 

Sth Korea's lucky streak comes to an end. Outplayed & upset by Jordan 2-0 in first semi final. Ange P will be pleased.
https://www.espn.com.au/football/story/_/id/39471590/overpowering-south-korea-jordan-just-pull-biggest-asian-cup-fairy-tale

Other semi is hosts Qatar verus Iran.

So Qatar beat Iran 3-2. Micky Boxall's good mate Yusuf Abdurisag with 63 mins for the Qataris. Qatar are defending Asian Cup champs winning in UAE in 2019.
https://us.soccerway.com/matches/2024/02/07/asia/asian-cup/iran/qatar/4073562/

Hopefully Jordan can complete their fairytale, and win in the final.

AFCON, final will be Nigeria verus Ivory Coast

Semis
Nigeria 1 - 1  South Africa - Nigeria win 4-2 on pens
Côte d'Ivoire 1 - 0  Congo DR  - AWs drew 1-1 with pretty full strength Congo last year

Jordan vs Qatar...youd be at long odds for that final. Yea a Jordan win would be nice, although where was this Qatar in the World Cup 14 months ago?
Nigeria vs Ivory Coast should be interesting...Ivory Coast have won two out of four finals but have never scored a goal in a final!  Who needs an official coach aye LOL!
Nigeria have scored 7 goals in their 6 games so they're hardly smashing the ball in either...probably a 1-0 result or a 0-0 and pens in the final.

Qatar had a group where the other three teams were just much better than them.

Sounds pretty simple but that's genuinely what it was. Tajikistan, China, Lebanon, Palestine, Uzbekistan and Iran aren't at the level of any of their three World Cup opponents.

Is there any legit way to watch AFC Final in NZ?  Like is it being broadcast or streamed anywhere that wouldn't involve a VPN or some other illegal method?

Unfortunately the bad guys win 
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/350175194/qatars-akram-afifs-magic-trick-during-asian-cup-goal-celebration

Ivory Coast doing there best Portugal 2016 and winning a tournament they should have been knocked out of early doors.

Brilliant for Haller though to score the winner a few years on from his cancer diagnosis.