Overview of Asian Cup 2023: Dragons and tigers fighting and the unknown of Vietnam team

The Asian Cup has seen four different champions in the last four finals. Notably, only one of the four champions is among the top three teams in Asia according to FIFA rankings. Therefore, predicting the next winner is not easy. For example, four years ago, not many people thought Qatar would win.

In addition to being the defending champions, Qatar will also be playing as the host nation this year. However, few people will dare to put their faith in the team that is the only host of the 2022 World Cup to lose all three group stage matches. It should be emphasized that since the World Cup, Qatar has only won 6 out of 17 matches played in 2023.

In the most recent Asian Cup hosted by Qatar in 2011, Japan won the championship. Entering the 2023 Asian Cup, the Blue Samurai are the defending runners-up and are considered the number one candidate. Japan has a quality and balanced squad, with the majority of their best players playing in Europe and only 5 players playing in the domestic tournament.

Brighton star Kaoru Mitoma has also been called up despite being injured and is expected to be fit for the match. However, the Japanese goalkeeper is incredibly inexperienced in international football.

Specifically, all 3 goalkeepers recalled have only played a total of 5 matches for the national team. 4 of those matches belong to Zion Suzuki, the 21-year-old "goalkeeper" born in the US and is said to have refused to join Man Utd.

The Japanese squad is so good that some players who play in Europe have not been called up. Notable examples include Ao Tanaka, a midfielder who plays for Fortuna Dusseldorf (Germany) and scored against Spain at the 2022 World Cup, and Kyogo Furuhashi, Celtic's main striker.

Japan's formidable opponent and neighboring rival is South Korea. Although they have not won the Asian championship in the past 60 years, coach Jurgen Klinsmann is very optimistic about his and his students' chances of winning.

The foundation for the German legend's confidence partly comes from the impressive performance of the Korean team recently. By the end of 2023, Klinsmann and his team had won 5 consecutive matches.

The strength of this team is not inferior to Japan, and there are even some names that are more prominent. That is the star Son Heung Min who plays for Tottenham or the center back Kim Min Jae of Bayern Munich.

If Son Heung Min is already famous, Kim Min Jae is the only Asian player nominated for the 2023 Ballon d'Or, and is even the highest-ranked defender. Before joining the German football giant, this player was the leader of the Napoli defense, the team that won the first Serie A championship since Diego Maradona.

With Kim Min Jae anchoring the defence and Son Heung Min leading the attack, the Korean squad is truly outstanding. In addition, the team's forward line is even more formidable with the presence of Lee Kang In, a player of Paris Saint Germain.

Not possessing many prominent faces like the East Asian giants, Iran, the West Asian giant, entered the Asian Cup with an unbeaten record in all 11 matches in 2023. However, Iran's opponents in the past year were not highly rated. Moreover, the stars of this team are not in good form.

For example, Porto's Mehdi Taremi and Feyenoord's Alireza Jahanbakhsh have both struggled to score this season. Not only that, Iran have the oldest average age among the top six teams in Asia, and are 3.5 years older than Japan.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is a rare giant participating in the tournament with a squad consisting entirely of players currently playing in the domestic league. However, the Saudi Pro League is of very high quality thanks to the presence of many world-famous players such as C. Ronaldo, Neymar, Benzema...

Therefore, coach Roberto Mancini hopes that the halo of the top stars will help the Saudi Arabian players improve their level. It seems that the star effect has somewhat affected Salem al-Dawsari. The captain of Al-Hilal is playing very explosively this season with 9 goals and 4 assists.

Coach Mancini is also a coach who has affirmed his ability at both club and national team level. He won the Premier League with Man City and won Euro 2020 with the Italian team. However, Saudi Arabia's performance under the Italian strategist's leadership was quite disappointing, losing 8 matches in 2023.

Another notable contender is Australia, who won the 2015 Asian Cup on home soil. The Socceroos are in a major shake-up in terms of personnel, with only nine players who played at the 2022 World Cup and reached the round of 16 to be called up for this edition of the Asian Cup.

Instead, 14 players are making their first appearance for Australia at a major tournament, including veteran Bruno Fornaroli, a 36-year-old Uruguayan. The team from the land of Kangaroos is no longer as powerful with many big names as before, but is still strong enough to make any opponent wary.

In short, with so many variables from history to the balance of power between the top teams in the continent competing for power, predicting the champion of the 2023 Asian Cup is very difficult.

Although considered a lowland, it is wrong to think that Southeast Asian football was born later than the continent. The Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, was the first Asian team to participate in the World Cup in 1938.

Malaysia is the host of the Merdeka Cup, the oldest football tournament in the "golden continent" and there were years when its prestige even surpassed that of the Asian Cup. Meanwhile, Thailand hosted the Asian Cup in 1972 and participated in the tournament 8 times. However, as usual, the chances of Southeast Asian teams going far at the 2023 Asian Cup are a big question mark.

Thailand has long been considered the leading team in the region, but since the 1990s, the best achievement of the Golden Temple team has only been reaching the round of 16 at the 2019 Asian Cup. In 5 consecutive appearances from 1992 to 2007, Thailand stopped at the group stage.

At the 2023 Asian Cup, Thailand is in a group that is considered relatively easy. Except for the superior Saudi Arabia, the other two opponents, Oman and Kyrguzstan, are on par. However, Thailand's preparation for the upcoming tournament is not good, one could even say quite bad.

In terms of personnel, the most important aspect, the War Elephants have just changed their coach "against the wishes" of the players. As a result, some important players are absent. The latest case is midfielder Ekanit Panya of Urawa Red Diamonds who asked to withdraw despite not being injured.

In terms of performance, Thailand is currently on a streak of 5 matches with only 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses, including 2 recent 0-8 defeats against Georgia and 0-5 against Japan. With such a chaotic situation, even if the situation in the group stage is not too bad, it is difficult for the team from the land of the golden pagodas to go far.

The name that is probably worth waiting for to create a surprise is Malaysia. Although its position on the FIFA rankings is not high (130 in the world) and it is only the first time participating in the tournament since 2007, this team has been quite well prepared in terms of personnel. It is a squad of many players with even quality and close together in the JDT (Johor Darul Ta'zim) shirt.

Malaysia’s recent performance has been quite impressive. The team defeated Kyrgyzstan and Chinese Taipei in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and held Syria to a 2-2 draw in a friendly match ahead of the Asian Cup.

However, Malaysia's group is quite tough, with the presence of Korea, Bahrain and Jordan. To be able to create a surprise and advance to the next round, coach Kim Pan Gon and his team need to put in 100% effort and a lot of luck.

The biggest hope for Southeast Asian football comes from Group D, with Indonesia and Vietnam as the two representatives. With the format of four of the six best third-placed teams advancing from the group stage, Southeast Asia is at least certain to have a third-place spot to compete for a place in the next round. However, the chances of that will have to wait until later to be decided.

Since re-integration, the Vietnamese team has only participated in the Asian Cup finals twice, in 2007 and 2019. However, in both tournaments, the "Golden Star Warriors" became a phenomenon of the tournament with the achievement of reaching the quarter-finals.

Compared to 4 years ago, the current Vietnam team has many changes. Besides a new coach and a new philosophy, only 4 players who participated in the 2019 Asian Cup are in the squad for the 2023 Asian Cup.

If viewed from a positive perspective, Troussier and his team are an unknown quantity to all opponents. We are no longer the defensive counter-attacking team as under coach Park Hang Seo.

In terms of the balance of power in the group, Japan is clearly superior in class and will probably win the maximum 9 points. The competition will mainly take place between Iraq, Vietnam and Indonesia. Iraq is slightly better but Indonesia is considered the underdog.

The encounter late last year in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers somewhat reflected the level between Vietnam and Iraq. Iraq was at a higher level but the tactical aspects were not exactly sharp.

In fact, at My Dinh, Iraq could only win in the last minute and appeared to be stuck in the defensive game set up by Coach Troussier. Therefore, the hope of Vietnam winning points and competing for second place in the group is not completely absent.

Meanwhile, in the match against Indonesia, Iraq won 5-1, reflecting the huge difference in skill level between the two teams. The Vietnamese team will probably have more difficulty defeating Indonesia because of the understanding between the two sides.

Furthermore, Coach Troussier has lost many quality options on the attacking front. However, in terms of battle spirit and squad quality, the Vietnamese team is still rated higher. According to statistics from We Global Football, the chance of Troussier and his team passing the group stage will be 44.28%, a relatively high rate.

If they make it through the group stage, whether in second or third place, Vietnam will likely have to face top teams in the continent such as Qatar or Australia. That is a challenge but also an opportunity for the "Golden Star Warriors" to demonstrate their abilities, and for Coach Troussier to score points in the eyes of fans.

Design: Duc Binh

Content: Ngoc Trung

01/13/2024 - 01:45

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/tong-quan-asian-cup-2023-long-tranh-ho-dau-va-an-so-doi-tuyen-viet-nam-20240111182021625.htm