LUSAIL, Qatar — Twice, the crowd roared as the dawning realisation of what was about to happen spread like waves amongst them but by the third time, they definitely knew what was coming.
For cometh the hour, cometh Akram Afif.
After positioning himself to take the 21st-minute penalty that would open the scoring in Qatar‘s 3-1 win over Jordan in the Asian Cup final on Saturday evening, Qatar skipper Hassan Al-Haydos instead turned away and knocked the ball into the hands of a waiting Afif.
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It was a move the Qataris have pulled before, the subtle art of mental disintegration in penalty shootouts, but the crowd responded anyway.
In the 73rd minute, with the scores locked at 1-1 after Yazan Al-Naimat had fired the gallant Jordanians level as part of an improved second-half effort, VAR intervention led referee Ma Ning to determine that Mahmoud Al-Mardi had unfairly brought down Ismaeel Mohammad in the Jordanian penalty area.
Almoez Ali stepped up, before he too turned on his heel and handed the ball off to Afif.
Another roar rang out.
Then, in the 91st, following another VAR intervention, this one seeing Ning award a penalty after Jordanian keeper Yazid Abu Layla was adjudged to have brought down Afif’s burst behind the Chivalrous Ones’ lines, Almoez again stood over the spot, ball in hand.
Only this time, the crowd wasn’t going to be fooled. Nobody in Doha was fooled at this point and the Lusail Stadium thundered with a call for Afif to take the spot kick, noise that rose to another level when he moved forward.
On each occasion, the Qatari contingent of the 86,492 reported attendees emanated a sense of eager anticipation and confidence.
Not only for the second consecutive Asian Cup title that would soon be theirs, but for a legacy-defining moment for one of the Asian Cup’s greatest-ever players.
The 27-year-old had played a defining role in lifting his side to an upset 3-2 win over Iran in the semifinals just days prior and now, it would fall upon his shoulders once more.
And on all three occasions, he was up for the challenge.
To Abu Layla’s credit, he reacted quickly after Afif’s stutter-step run-up and side-footed effort on the first penalty, coming agonisingly close to getting a hand to the shot as he moved down and to his right. But the shot was hit with too much direction and power, nestling into the bottom corner of the net and putting Qatar into the ascendancy.
