On the evening of the 12th, the Qatar Asian Cup will kick off. As the first football feast of the year, can the national football team with poor results in the warm-up match create a miracle? Who can stand out from Japan and South Korea and other strong teams to win the final championship trophy? Who will be a dark horse like Vietnam in the last Asian Cup? All of these suspense will be revealed in the coming month's competition.
Can the national football team reach the top 8 again?
Five years ago, in the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates, the Chinese men's football team, under the leadership of Lippi, rushed to the top 8, but unfortunately lost to the Iranian team in the 8-in-4 game and stopped in the top 4 of the Asian Cup.
At that time, the key words related to Chinese football were quite optimistic, the Chinese Super League was still "thriving", the national football team was led by a famous coach, and the policy of naturalized players was also being ......promoted
Five years have passed, and the keywords of Chinese football have changed dramatically. Since losing to Vietnam in the World Preliminary Round, the results of the Chinese men's football team have continued to decline. Corruption in football has erupted, the overall strength of the Chinese Super League has declined, and there are no young players coming out ......Everyone's expectations for this national football team have also dropped to the lowest.
However, the football field is full of accidents at any time. In the case of not being favored, the national football team is not without the possibility of bottoming out. After all, the overall strength of their group is weak, after all, 16 of the 24 teams can qualify from the group, after all, the third place in the group with the best results in 4 of the 6 groups can qualify. With the blessing of this series of prefixes, at least the national football team should not have much problem advancing from the group stage.
In all fairness, the national football team for this Asian Cup has been quite lucky, with the exception of the host Qatar team, Tajikistan and Lebanon both hovering outside the FIFA rankings of the 100th place. Even the Qatari team, which is ranked highest in the group, is relatively weak in the first tier of teams, and the national football team has the strength to fight against them. Of course, these are just theories, and no game is easy for the national football team that has not been in good shape during the preparation period in the last half month. Therefore, the coach of the national football team, Jankovic, also repeatedly emphasized the importance of the first game in a very pragmatic manner. After all, after getting the first 3 points, the team basically grasped the initiative to advance.
As for the follow-up knockout rounds, it really depends on the luck and on-the-spot performance of the national football team.
Who can win the championship with strong teams such as Japan and South Korea?
On January 5, South Korean international Lee Gang-in officially returned to the team to prepare for the Qatar Asian Cup with the South Korean team. In the French Super Cup final on January 3, local time in France, Grand Paris defeated Toulouse 2-0 to win the 12th Super Cup championship trophy in team history. Lee Gang-in's goal in the third minute of the game helped Grand Paris open the door to victory.
In terms of Lee Gang-in's return time, the Grand Paris side had a "extreme pull" with the South Korean team to allow the attacker to play in the French Super Cup final. A similar plot has also been experienced by teams such as Japan and Iran that played in the Asian Cup. This Asian Cup has been called "the most influential in history" precisely because the players recruited by each team have really affected the five major leagues.
There are more and more superstars, and the gold content of the Asian Cup is getting higher and higher, and who can win the championship has also become the focus of everyone's attention.
According to the statistics of the German transfer market**, there are 20 players worth more than 10 million euros in this Asian Cup. Stars from Japan and South Korea have taken the top 10 in the Asian Cup player value list. Japan's rising star Kenei Kubo and South Korea's defensive line Kim Min-jae are tied for the top spot with 60 million euros. From this point of view, both Japan and South Korea can be called "all-star teams". The Japanese team and the South Korean team, which are regarded as the favorites to win the championship, are also full of desire for the championship.
In the final of the last Asian Cup, Japan lost 1-3 to Qatar and lost the championship. This time he led the team to the Asian Cup again, and the Japanese team coach Mori Hoichi made it clear that the team's goal is to win the championship.
Japan's number one rivals, the Taiji Tigers, South Korea, are also eyeing the Asian Cup trophy, and the coach of the German team, Jurgen Klinsmann, made no secret of his team's ambitions: "We were able to win the championship not only because of confidence, but also because we have the quality. ”
In addition to Japan and South Korea, the Kangaroos Australia, the Persian Riders Iran, West Asian powerhouse Saudi Arabia and defending champions Qatar are also considered to have considerable hopes of challenging for the title. It remains to be seen who will have the last laugh.
Who will be the dark horse?
There is no shortage of dark horses in continental football. There is no pressure to win, no unfamiliar style of play, no chance ...... on the fieldAll of them have created all possibilities for the dark horses.
In the last Asian Cup, the Vietnamese team, which ranked the lowest in the round of 16, successfully broke into the top 8, and finally lost 0-1 to the Japanese team in the 8-4 game, becoming the biggest dark horse of that tournament.
In this Asian Cup, the Tajikistan team, which entered the Asian Cup finals for the first time, and the Hong Kong, China team, which returned to the Asian Cup after many years, have shown a good competitive momentum in the previous international competitions, plus the "supporting roles" of the former Asian Cup such as the Vietnam team and the Malaysian team have also made significant progress, and they all have the ability to become "dark horses" in their respective group stages and even knockout rounds.