Spare a thought for Aymen Hussein, the Iraq striker whose tournament ended a week and a half ago, as he sits, watches and no doubt hopes Akram Afif doesn’t get on the scoresheet in the AFC Asian Cup final against Jordan.
Afif, a goal behind Hussein’s tally of six, is the only realistic hope of catching the Iraqi marksman and finishing as the tournament’s top scorer unless either of the Jordanian pair of Yazan Al-Naimat or Mousa Al-Taamari (or perhaps Afif’s own teammate Hassan Al-Haydos) bag an unlikely hattrick in the final on Saturday.
A Qatar win will also likely help settle the race for another individual honour with Afif almost certain to be crowned the tournament MVP ahead of Al-Taamari in what appears a two-horse race for that award.
As much as the focus has been on the team and the unlikely match-up with Jordan, if you take Afif out of this Qatar side (or Al-Taamari out of Jordan for that matter) then the hosts aren’t in the final.
It’s that simple.
After a breakthrough tournament in 2019 as a 21-year-old, where he recorded an all-time record ten assists as Qatar won their maiden Asian Cup, Afif’s star was firmly on the rise.
While a return to Europe (after previous stints in Belgium and Spain) was mooted, he went on to win three straight domestic league titles with Al Sadd, multiple cups and was named in the Best XI at the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Everything was set for Afif to propel his nation forward at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, only for the player and the nation to crash spectacularly.
Carded in the opener, Afif was a peripheral figure as Qatar became the first host nation in World Cup history to lose all three matches, with the team scoring just once.
Many assumed that may spell the end of Qatar’s meteoric rise from outsiders to continental champions and then World Cup flops as the regional and global gaze shifted from Doha to Riyadh.
The Asian Cup preparation itself was a tumultuous one, with as many wins as losses in 2023, a high-profile coaching change on the eve of the tournament and generally muted expectations regarding the chances of the nation successfully defending their title.
Then came the Akram Afif show.
Goals late in both halves in an opening day win over Lebanon was followed by the winner against Tajikistan before the playmaker was rested from the starting XI for the final group match.
A winner from the penalty spot in the Round of 16 was followed by another star showing in the quarters and then two assists and a goal in the semi-final upset of Iran.
Now 27, this has been a phenomenal tournament from Afif.
Second on the goal tally, leading the assist charts and with the second highest number of chances created, he’s been the beating heart of the Qatari attack.
With football becoming so rigid and positionally disciplined, it’s rare to see the game’s few remaining out-and-out playmakers given almost complete liberty and freedom to control matches but credit to Marquez Lopez for doing just that.
Although Afif nominally starts on the left wing in what has been a 4-3-3 or a 3-4-2-1, it’s almost impossible to pin him positionally with his heat map resembling an ice-cream on a summer’s day.
One minute he’s dropping deep, the next he’s wide on the left, or coming centrally, then out on the right or dribbling into the box.
The close control, the first touch, the movement, the ability to find and manipulate space, the creativity and the finishing have all been there.
More than that though has been a real sense of the occasion and his place in it as well as other elements that can get overlooked: a refusal to drag the ball into the corner to kill time, rather constantly looking to keep play moving, but also more than a dose of ‘gamesmanship’ when needed in trying to stunt opposition momentum.
The way Afif celebrated his goal against Iran shows, too, just how much it means to a player who has the chance to define both his own and his nation’s legacy; if now it’s Qatar’s time to shine then it’s very much this superb playmaker who will be the one doing the polishing.
Listen to The Asian Game Podcast LIVE from Souq Waqif after Qatar’s dramatic win over Iran
