At 19:00 Beijing time tonight, the 2023 Asian Cup group draw ceremony will be held in the host Qatar. The national football team is in the second gear, I don't know which opponents will be drawn? We'll see!
Bin situation
In the final stage of the Asian Cup, a total of 24 teams participated, according to the FIFA world rankings announced in early April, a total of 4 levels, each with 6 teams, each entering 6 groups of 4 teams.
First gear: Qatar, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, Saudi Arabia
Second gear: national football, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Uzbekistan, Jordan
Third tranche: Bahrain, Syria, Palestine, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon
Fourth gear: India, Tajikistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia
Lottery analysis
The Chinese men's football team ranked 11th in Asia, so it entered the second pot, avoiding West Asian rivals such as Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Central Asian powerhouse Uzbekistan. According to the qualifying rules of the Asian Cup, the top two in the group directly advance to the knockout round, plus the four best group thirds to form the round of 16, so the national football team should strive for the top two in the group, and the bottom line is the third in the group.
In terms of the first seeded team, all 6 teams participated in last year's World Cup, all of which are difficult to deal with, compared to Qatar may be relatively weak, but the host definitely has an advantage, so it is difficult for the national football team to get the first place, the most realistic goal is to compete for second.
In terms of third-tier teams, Bahrain and Syria are strong, while Vietnam is the old wrongdoer in the round of 12, having lost on the first day of the new year, they are the main competitors of the national football team, and there is no room for mistakes.
There are no West Asian teams in the fourth gear, and the national football team may hope to meet India, Indonesia and Malaysia, but Thailand and Hong Kong have all been our bitter masters and may not be able to win steadily.
To sum up, the national football team is likely to enter the group of death, and the difficulty of qualifying is certainly not small, which will be a severe test and a huge challenge for new coach Jankovic.
The Asian Cup Final Stage will be played from January 12 to February 10, 2024.