24 teams compete for 11 qualifying cards for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup
Twenty-four teams are competing for the remaining 11 qualifying cards for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in football, in the final third round qualifiers, starting from Wednesday.
The teams of China, Japan, Syria, defending champions Qatar, South Korea, Australia, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Vietnam and Lebanon, have qualified for the tournament, which includes 24 teams.
The teams that failed to qualify for the finals, by reaching the third round of the double qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, will participate in the final round. The teams in the third round
were divided into six groups, and the grouping system is held in Kuwait (Group I), Mongolia (Second), Uzbekistan ( The third), India (the fourth), Malaysia (the fifth) and Kyrgyzstan (the sixth), on June 8, 11 and 14.
The champions of each group qualify for the finals, in addition to the best five runner-up teams in the six groups.
Of the 24 teams, six have never reached the finals, while Hong Kong and Cambodia hope to return to the continental championship after an absence of more than half a century.
And last week, the AFC opened the door to its member national federations, in order to express a desire to host the finals instead of China, which apologized for not hosting due to the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Japan holds the record for the number of titles (4) against Saudi Arabia and Iran (3), while Qatar won the first title in its history in 2019 in the UAE.
Kuwait and Jordan together
The teams of Jordan and Kuwait were drawn in the first group, which includes Indonesia and Nepal, with the Kuwait team as host for the group match.
Kuwait plays Indonesia on Wednesday at Jaber International Stadium, and Jordan plays Nepal on the same stadium.
Kuwait is the only team participating in this role, which previously won the title in 1980.
As for the Jordan team, led by Iraqi coach Adnan Hamad, it underwent a long camp in Doha, where it played two friendlies, winning the first against India with two goals without a reply, then losing to Australia 1-2 .
In four participations, the first of which was in 2004, Jordan reached the quarter-finals twice, in 2004 and 2011.
The Jordanian Federation stated that the player Munther Abu Amara completed the training alone, under the supervision of the medical staff, "after suffering a minor injury that might keep him from the first match in the qualifiers, while Tariq Khattab participated in the exercises wearing a face mask as a precaution, after suffering a nose injury."
In the second group, which is held at the Mongolian Federation Stadium, the Philippines, which participated in its first participation in the 2019 edition, will meet with Yemen, then host Mongolia, which is looking for a first participation in the finals, will play with Palestine.
The Palestinian team participated for the first time in the finals in 2015 when it was eliminated from the group stage, similar to the last edition in 2019 in the UAE.
As for Yemen, it was its first participation in 2019 when it was eliminated from the group stage with three losses.
In the third group in Uzbekistan, the hosts play with Sri Lanka and Thailand with the Maldives.
In the fourth in India, the host will play with Cambodia and Hong Kong with Afghanistan.
As for the Bahrain national team, which is in Group E in Malaysia, it will play with Bangladesh, while the host will go to Turkmenistan.
Bahrain participated six times in the continental championship, most notably in 2004 when it ranked fourth, after losing to Japan, who later won the title, after the extension 4-3.
In the last sixth in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan will play with Myanmar and host Kyrgyzstan with Singapore.
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