The draw for the new Men's Asian Cup groups will be held tonight at 7pm. It is reported that the new national soccer coach Jankovic will fly directly from Serbia to Doha, Qatar for the draw ceremony and make an appointment in advance with the opponents who are preparing for the warm-up matches.
According to AFC officials, seven guests were invited to the draw, including Sun Wen, vice-chairman of the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and legendary Chinese women's soccer player, Qatar international Hassan Haidos, former Uzbekistan international Jephard Jephardov, South Korean legend Park Ji-Sung, Japanese female referee Yamashita Mirai, Indian U20 women's soccer head coach Memore Roki, and legendary Australian player Tim Cahill.
The above draw, only Sun Wen holds an important position in his country's football association, and the AFC is also one of those who did not invite the Chinese men's soccer team's celebrities, which is really out of the expectation of the domestic fans.
Either way, fans are hoping that Sun Wen will draw for the national soccer team, which will help them achieve their goal of going 8-4 at the Asian Cup. The exact breakdown of the Asian Cup is as follows.
Tier 1: Qatar (host), Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia.
Second gear: Iraq, UAE, Oman, Uzbekistan, China, Jordan.
Tranche 3: Bahrain, Syria, Palestine, Viet Nam, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon
Fourth tranche: India, Thailand, Tajikistan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Indonesia.
The national soccer team is ranked 11th into the second team by the AFC grading based on the latest Asian rankings. The same team including Iraq, UAE, Oman, Uzbekistan and Jordan can't seem to win consistently, especially against Iraq and Uzbekistan.
After avoiding the second team, the three opponents of the national soccer team will come from the first, third and fourth teams. The results of the draw are important for the national soccer team to do well. If you get a signature, you don't have to worry about getting out of the group. But the psychological bottom line for fans is to at least make it to the top 8, because the national soccer team has made it to the top 8 in 9 of their previous 12 matches, and only 3 of them stopped in the group stage. Once you get a bad autograph, you basically have to face a round robin in the group stage.
From the above categorization, the best grouping result for the national football team should be hosts Qatar, Kyrgyzstan and India, and the worst grouping should be Japan (or Iran and South Korea). , Bahrain, and Thailand.
The Asian Cup will be held in Qatar from January 12, 2024 to February 10, 2024, eight months before the national football team prepares for the tournament.
In addition, the uncertainty of the national football team is the naturalized international players. Currently, Ackerson and Fernando have returned to play in the Chinese Super League, while Luo Guofu and Alan are still playing in Brazil. If new coach Jankovic makes good use of these naturalized internationals, along with local No.1 striker Wu Lei, the national football team is still expected to do well in the Asian Cup.
