Just a few days ago, tournament favourites Japan were beaten 2-1 by a highly-disciplined, counter-attacking Iraq side. South Korea, the other big favourite, were held to a 2-2 by Jordan.
Iran only just slipped past Hong Kong 1-0, while the United Arab Emirates drew 1-1 with Palestine.
Saudia Arabia, who defeated Argentina at the 2022 World Cup, only just edged Oman 2-1 on their first match day, too.
There are a couple major themes emerging from all of these games.
First: that any team coming up against a low block of defensively resolute, well-drilled players will always struggle to score goals.
Second: that possession for possession’s sake means nothing if you don’t do anything with it.
And third: that when it comes to tournament football, the ultimate goal is to win games, regardless of how you do it.
In this broader context, the fact that the Socceroos have not just won both of their games but also kept two clean sheets in the process is looking better by the day.
As Graham Arnold said yesterday:
“Japan, with English Premier League players, had trouble breaking down Iraq. They couldn’t do that.
“If they set up deep in a block, the pitches are quick here, [so] it’s got to be very spot on.
“At the end of the day, winning is the most important thing. Obviously, we can do better in that [attacking] department, and we’ve been working on those types of things for the last two weeks, our attacking patterns and our attack. We will focus on a bit more on the defensive side of things now.”
Have you caught any of the other games during the Asian Cup so far? What have you made of some of the surprise results? What does it say about the direction of Asian football more widely?