The end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, on the eve of the 2024 Qatar Asian Cup, the head coaches of the three East Asian countries talked about the goals of their teams, and the Japanese team, which is currently ranked No. 1 in Asia, is ambitious. South Korea's head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said it was time for South Korea to win the Asian Cup for the first time in 64 years. The Chinese men's football coach Jankovic avoided talking about the goal of this Asian Cup, and Jankovic said that instead of amplifying words, it is better to play the game well, and the current situation of football in the three East Asian countries is high.
2024 Qatar Asian Cup, Japan Vietnam, Iraq and Indonesia are in the same group, before the Asian Cup, the Japanese team only played a warm-up match, the opponent is the Southeast Asian team Thailand, the Japanese team coach Mori Hoichi did not send the main players to the battle, but sent a substitute lineup to participate in this warm-up match, in the game, the Japanese team was obviously superior, the game presented a one-sided situation, the Japanese team led Thailand 24-6 in the number of shots on goal, and the number of corner kicks also dominated by 13-3, and finally with Tanaka Bi, Nakamura Keito, Kawamura Takumu and Minamino Takumi and Thailand's own goal, the Japanese team won 5-0.
Japan's self-confidence improved after two wins over World Cup champions Germany and Spain in the Qatar World Cup, although Croatia was blocked out of the quarterfinals, but after the Qatar World Cup, Japan won nine consecutive victories in the warm-up matches and the world preliminaries, including victories over Germany, Canada, Tunisia, Turkey, Peru, El Salvador, and Syria and Myanmar in the world preliminaries. Japan has thus become the strongest team in Asia, in the year-end world rankings, the Japanese team entered the top 20 for the first time, ranking 17th, a record high, the Asian Cup championship is no longer enough to meet the ambitions of the Japanese team, the World Cup championship is the ultimate goal of the Japanese team.
South Korea is ranked 23rd in the world at the end of the year, although the South Korean team does not have a talent blowout like the Japanese team, but the stars who play in the five major European leagues are more dazzling, South Korea who plays in the Premier League, Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan have scored double-doubles in the Premier League this season, of which Son Heung-min scored 12 goals and 5 assists on behalf of Tottenham, Hwang Hee-chan scored 10 goals and 3 assists on behalf of Wolves, both of them are among the top 10 scorers in the Premier League, and Son Heung-min is second in the scorer list, only 2 goals behind Haaland. In addition, midfielders Lee Gang-in, Jung You-yeong, and Lee Jae-sung also play in the five major European leagues, and in the backline, Kim Min-jae is Bayern's main player, and South Korean coach Klinsmann shouted: South Korea has not won the Asian Cup for 64 years, and it's time to win the championship.
Compared with South Korea and Japan, the Chinese men's football team is too inferior, there are no players in the Chinese team to play in the European League, the most valuable player in the national football team is Wu Lei, who once played for the Spaniards, Wu Lei's value is 1.5 million euros, and the most valuable player in the Japanese team is Kubo Jianying, reaching 60 million euros, and the most valuable player in the South Korean team is Kim Min-jae, who is also as high as 60 million euros. The national football team was in the same group as the South Korean team in the world preliminary round, and in the first leg of the meeting, the Chinese men's football team lost 0-3 to the South Korean team at home.
Jankovic led the team to a 5-1 victory over a local amateur team in the United Arab Emirates, a 0-2 defeat to Oman and a 1-2 defeat to Hong Kong, China in the warm-up matches before the Asian Cup. In the Asian Cup, the Chinese men's football team is in the same group as the host Qatar, the West Asian team Lebanon, and the Central Asian team Tajikistan. Jankovic said that the goal of this Asian Cup is to avoid talking about the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup, and only said that it is better to play a good game than to talk big.