The first gateway to Asia’s strongest, the fate of the participating countries was decided through the group draw.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held a draw ceremony for the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup at the Katara Opera House in Doha, Qatar on the 11th. The group draw, featuring Asian football legends such as Ji-Sung Park, Tim Cahill and Serber Zefarov, ended with the fate of 24 countries decided.
Korea, which is challenging for the first time in 64 years, made a smooth grouping. Korea, ranked 27th in the FIFA rankings, is in Group E along with Jordan (84th), Bahrain (85th) and Malaysia (138th), so it seems easy to pass the group stage.
Jurgen Klinsmann, coach of the national team, also said, “Our goal is to pass the group stage and go to the end of the tournament. It is a good match for us.” But we are also strong. Our goal is to win,” he said confidently.
Rival Japan (20th), who is in the top seed along with Korea, was placed in Group D along with Indonesia (149th), Iraq (67th) and Vietnam (95th). They were tied up in a group with Indonesia led by coach Shin Tae-yong and played a mini-Korea-Japan match in the group stage.
▲ Jurgen Klinsmann, coach of the national team ⓒKorea Football Association
▲ Japanese director Moriyasu Hajime. ⓒYonhap News/AFP
Japan looked at the results of the group formation seriously. Coach Hajime Moriyasu said in an interview with ‘DAZN’, “We were in a very tough group. The leaders of the opposing country know Japan well. We have to be careful with all teams.” Apparently, I was wary of coach Philip Troussier, who took over the leadership of Vietnam as the successor to coach Park Hang-seo. In the past, he was the leader who led Japan to the 2000 Asian Cup victory and the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup round of 16.
In terms of objective strength, Japan is the most advanced.메이저놀이터 Expected to pass 1st place. If you reach the round of 16 with 1st place, your Daejin luck will be solid. But it gets harder when you’re sloppy. Even with the positive grouping, ‘Gekisaka’ assumed various scenarios, saying, “If Japan comes second and Korea takes first place in Group E, a match between Korea and Japan will take place in the round of 16.”
Of course, the odds of a Korea-Japan match starting in the round of 16 are slim. 1st place in each other’s group is a strong power. In this case, the Korea-Japan match will only take place in the final. Instead, if Korea rises to the top of the group, it is highly likely that they will meet Iraq in the round of 16, Iran in the quarterfinals, and Qatar in the quarterfinals, predicting a tough tournament.