The die has been cast. The opponent of Klinsmann토스카지노, who is on his way to the top of Asia, has been confirmed.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held a draw ceremony for the 2023 Asian Cup at the Katara Opera House in Doha, Qatar on the 11th. Korea, ranked 27th in the FIFA rankings, was in Group E along with Jordan (84th), Bahrain (85th) and Malaysia (138th).
The Asian Cup is like an unsolved homework for Korea. Korea, which claims to be the leader in Asia, has been far from winning the Asian Cup. Starting with the first tournament in 1956, they succeeded in winning two consecutive championships, but that was it. They haven’t lifted the trophy since 1960. It was far from recapturing the top even with the introduction of players such as Cha Bum-Kun, Park Ji-Sung, and Son Heung-Min.
Coach Klinsman, who took office in March, also set winning the Asian Cup as his primary goal. “I have a goal of winning the Asian Cup, and I want to be evaluated as a result,” he said at a press conference for his appointment. In addition, he expressed his strong aspirations, saying, “As a short-term goal, I will run toward winning the Asian Cup for 10 months.”
First of all, Jordan has the lowest FIFA ranking among the six teams in Pot 2. Their opponent record was 3 wins and 2 draws, and they never lost. In the recent match in 2014, Han Kyo-won (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors) won the game 1-0 with the winning goal. All three victories were 1-0 by one goal.
Bahrain ranks highest among the three ports. He is far ahead in the opponent record with 11 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss. But it’s also a tricky team. Korea met Bahrain in the round of 16 of the 2019 Asian Cup. After a bloody battle that went into overtime, they won hard. Their only defeat came in the group stage of the 2007 Asian Cup.
Malaysia was placed fourth in Pot 4. With a record of 26 wins, 12 draws and 8 losses, they had the most head-to-head matches among the teams in the group stage. However, after the gap began to widen, they rarely met. The latest confrontation was in June 1989, 34 years ago.
However, Malaysia cannot be underestimated because of the head of the team. The current head coach of Malaysia is Kim Pan-gon. He is well versed in Korean soccer because he served as the vice president of the Korea Football Association and the head of the National Team Strengthening Committee. Even with an objective power difference, we cannot be relieved.
Meanwhile, a total of 24 countries in the Asian Cup are organized into 6 groups of 4 teams. The 1st and 2nd place teams in each group and the 4 teams with the best grades among the 3rd place teams form a round of 16 tournament to compete for the trophy.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in China this summer. However, in the aftermath of Corona 19, the hosting rights were returned, and Qatar became the new host country. The opening date has also been postponed to January 12, 2024, and will be held until February 10.