On the afternoon of February 24, Beijing time, the 2023 China Asian Cup Top 24 group draw was released, of which the two major teams Thailand and Uzbekistan were in the same group. Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Myanmar and Singapore, which are closely related, have come together.
Since the Chinese team is the host of next year's Asian Cup, they have been qualified to participate directly and do not have to participate in this Asian Cup qualifier. Also eligible are Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Oman, Syria, Lebanon and Vietnam, who qualified for next year's Asian Cup by qualifying for the Top 12 of the World Cup. As for Qatar, it can also participate in next year's main tournament because it has previously won the top of the top 40.
In this Asian Qualifier, there are 6 groups, and these 24 teams will decide 11 places, plus 13 teams that have already qualified, to form a total of 24 teams to participate in the main tournament. In 6 groups, the team that qualifies for the first place will successfully qualify for the promotion. As for the second place in the group, the 5 teams with the best results need to be ranked according to the points ranking.
Specific groupings of the Asian Preliminary Round (the first team is the group host)
Group A: Kuwait, Jordan, Indonesia, Nepal
Group B: Mongolia, Palestine, Philippines, Yemen
Group C: Uzbekistan, Thailand, Maldives, Sri Lanka
Group D: India, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Cambodia
Group E: Malaysia, Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Bangladesh
Group F: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Myanmar, Singapore
Judging from the grouping situation, many of the top ranked teams in the Asian region, such as Uzbekistan, Bahrain and other teams, are not difficult to qualify. In terms of strength, the strength of the four teams in Group F is very similar, which can be called the "death group" of this group.
The Asian Cup qualifiers were divided into three match days, namely June 8, 11 and 14, 2022. The 2023 Asian Cup will open on June 16, 2023, and a total of 10 cities in China, including Beijing, will be the venues for the event.
For the national football team, which has been out of the round of 12 in advance, how to adjust the state in time and play a good result in next year's Asian Cup is a problem that the entire Football Association needs to think about. Although the recent results of the national football team have been disappointing, after all, as the host of the event, the results may be different. After all, the last time we held the Asian Cup, we got the best result in the history of the tournament.