Asian Cup 2019: Worth the money

According to the valuation from the transfer website Transfermarkt, South Korea (84.43 million euros) and Japan (80.8 million euros) are the two teams with the highest total squad value at the 2019 Asian Cup. Iran is ranked 3rd (58.2 million euros), far surpassing defending champion Australia, whose total squad value is only about 37 million euros. Money does not always go hand in hand with success, but so far the "rich guys" are showing their class.

The rich are winning

After 2 matches, 9 teams have won all, including 3 teams that are considered to have the highest total transfer value in Asia: Japan, Korea and Iran. Of which, Jordan, Korea, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia are the teams that have not conceded any goals.

The total value of Iran's squad for the 2019 Asian Cup is around 58.2 million euros. Photo: Getty

According to experts, Qatar is the team that has made the most impression at this Asian Cup. The squad is mostly U23 players, with a total transfer value of 7.75 million euros with the purpose of training to prepare for the 2022 World Cup held at home, but they have done much better. Currently, Qatar has had 2 wins with 8 goals, without conceding any, convincingly topping Group E.

Coach Carlos Queiroz has in his hands what is considered the best squad in the history of Iranian football. Not long ago, this squad defeated Morocco 2-1, drew with Portugal 1-1 and lost only 0-1 to Spain at the 2018 World Cup. According to the valuation of the transfer website Transfermarkt, the total value of the Iranian squad participating in the 2019 Asian Cup is about 58.2 million euros.

The most expensive player in the Iranian squad is Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who won the Dutch league's "Top Scorer" title and also contributed greatly to helping AZ Alkmaar finish the season as runners-up. Brighton & Hove Albion FC spent 20 million euros in the summer of 2018 to recruit Alireza Jahanbakhsh from AZ Alkmaar, but Transfermarkt has now revalued him.tThe 25-year-old striker has only 18 million euros left. All are playing brilliantly, helping the team have 2 easy victories against Yemen (5-0) and Vietnam (2-0).

Jordan was the most surprising name in the group stage of the 2019 Asian Cup, when they excellently defeated the defending champion Australia. The very proactive counter-attacking philosophy that coach Vital Borkelmans directed his students once again showed its discomfort in the second match against Syria, a team that was also of a higher level than them. Not really jubilant, but they easily beat Syria 2-0 with a 4-2-3-1 formation with the names Saeed Murjan, Yassine Mahmoud; Yusef Al Rawashdeh in attack.

Another team in Group E, Saudi Arabia, with a total transfer value of 21 million euros, also had 2 wins, with 6 goals and no goals conceded. Names such as striker Al-Muwallad (19), midfielder Al-Moqahwi, Ali Al-Bishi... are expected to increase in value rapidly after the 2019 Asian Cup.

Waiting for explosion

The total transfer value of the Vietnam team is only 575,000 euros. Photo: Internet

The Korean team also had 2 wins but almost everything just stopped at the starting stage. Simply put, star Son Heung-min, who plays for Tottenham, only joined the national team after the match against MU in the 22nd round of the Premier League on January 13.

Son Heung-min has played 12 games for Tottenham Hotspur in just over a month. He arrived in the UAE on the afternoon of January 14, hours after his team suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League.

Among the championship candidates, Japan is perhaps the quietest. In their opening two matches, they also earned 6 points against Turkmenistan and Oman.But the playing style of young players from the land of the rising sun has not yet overwhelmed the opponent. But stars like Yoshinori Muto (10 million euros), Hiroki Sakai (8million euros) has only played a moderate role.