According to the plan of the AFC, the group draw for the new Men's Asian Cup will be held at the headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, where the national teams will know their three group opponents. Jankovic will officially begin his team's preparations for the Asian Cup on International Match Day in June.
The Asian Cup grading rules are based on the latest edition of FIFA's world rankings, the national soccer team ranked 11th in Asia, decided to participate in the group draw as the second class. It could have fallen into the first team as hosts, and in the end AFC canceled the qualification of the Chinese Football Association to host the Asian Cup.
The specific divisions of the Asian Cup are 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
IV. India, Thailand, Tajikistan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Indonesia
After missing out on the first slot, the national soccer team will need to hope to draw in the next set of draws. For starters, hosts Qatar are the weakest of the first team. Meanwhile, the team has shown signs of sinking since three consecutive losses in the World Cup. It will be difficult for the national soccer team to win the five opponents of Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia and Saudi Arabia, and only now the draw for Qatar is signed.
According to statistics, the two teams have met in the last three official matches, and the National Football League is undefeated with two wins and a draw, including 2-0 at home in the 2016 Top 40, 0-0 at home in the 2016 Top 12, and before that, the National Football League had suffered three consecutive defeats, and has now reversed the situation of being beaten, with 2-1 on the road in the 2017 Top 12.
The national soccer team has that confidence because the lineup is not weak, and now that the four naturalized international players, Ackerson, Lok Kwok Foo, Fernando and Allan, are regaining their form, at least three of them are expected to return to the national team for the World Qualifiers and the Asian Cup, along with the local No. 1 striker, Wu Lei, there is no fear of Qatar.
In addition, as long as Bahrain does not finish third and Thailand fourth, the rest of the signatures of the national soccer team are good and you can advance to the knockout stage of the round of 16, but of course, the psychological bottom line for the fans is at least the last 8 of the Asian Cup, because the national soccer team has reached the last 8 nine times in the first 12 matches, stopping the group stage only three times.
The Asian Cup will be held in Qatar from January 12 to February 10, 2024, according to the AFC. The tournament had to be postponed to the winter of the following year due to the consideration of the hot climate in West Asia. Surprisingly, the final day falls on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Despite this, fans don't think the national soccer team can survive until that time.
