“Strong chances” for team in first round of “Asia Cup”

The 24-team draw for the 2023 Asian Cup finals, hosted by Qatar from January 12 to February 10, took place yesterday at the Qatar Opera House in Doha. Kong and Palestine.

According to the latest FIFA classification, the draw has divided the teams into four stages. First includes Qatar, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia and Saudi Arabia, second stage brings together: UAE, Iraq, Oman, Uzbekistan, China, Jordan, third place: Bahrain. , Syria, Palestine, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon, and the fourth level: India, Tajikistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Indonesia.

The draw results in six groups, four teams in each group, and the first and second-placed teams qualify for the Round of 16, along with the four best third-placed teams.

For his part, national coach Abdul Majeed Al-Nimr told Emirates Al-Youm: “Compared to the teams of this group, the team’s prospects should be strong in the competition, but this matter requires good preparation from all sides. Especially since the team is currently not going through a good period in its career. , which is seeing an alarming decline.

“Al-Nimr stressed the importance of reviewing many things related to the national team, so that it can recover its previous image, especially that the skills are there and everything is available, but it requires proper planning and not underestimating things. Any team in this group.”

According to the draw, the first group includes Qatar, China, Tajikistan and Lebanon, the second group includes Australia, Uzbekistan, India and Syria, and the fourth group includes Japan, Iraq, Indonesia and Vietnam. The fifth group includes South Korea, Jordan, Malaysia and Bahrain and the sixth group: Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, Thailand and Kyrgyzstan.

And Al-Nimr continued: “The previous period did not see stability in the national team in terms of technical staff or players, and the process of recruiting the national team should include influential players with their squads.”

Al-Nimr emphasized the importance of the next step to call only the players who are ready for the national team, not looking at the names.

It is noteworthy that the national team, which was leading Group G with 18 points, won 23 goals and conceded 7 goals in 6 matches against 2 defeats in 6 matches in Group G, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, qualified for the finals. .

In the next step, the Football Association and the National Teams Committee are expected to announce a complete blueprint for the plan to prepare the team for the upcoming Asian qualifiers, based on the federation’s interest in providing all the team’s preparation needs. All technical, administrative and logistical aspects are good for the Asia Cup finals, apart from that, the Football Association expects to make new changes in the team structure, especially signing a new technical staff after the current technical staff. Headed by Argentine coach Rodolfo Arruparina, whose contract with the Football Association expires next July, the Emirati sport in seeing the team meet the hopes and aspirations of the street, enable him to appear prestigious and compete in a new way. Strong in all upcoming overseas tournaments, the first of which is the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.