Asian Cup 2019 (Preview)

The 18th AFC Asian Cup gets underway on the 5th January in Abu Dhabi, bringing to close an historic four-year cycle for the confederation. The new qualifying format was proven to be a unanimous success, with great strides being achieved at all levels of the international game, most pertinently highlighted by AFC’s record-breaking effort over the summer at the World Cup. The expansion of the continental tournament to 24 teams has its drawbacks, yet we’re still likely to see the most competitive finals competition to date.

We’re regularly reminded of the ills and deficiencies of Asian football, but the revamped qualification phase that came into place over the last four years has been largely an unheralded success. Developing nations were scheduled with proper competitive football to last the duration of the cycle, opposed to small doses of quick fire shootout competition. Instead of grouping minnows together, the two-round group stage split allowed for nations to compete with the elite, whilst offering more realistic preparation to follow.

While some may have expressed concerns over what impact this elongated process would have had on the top tier of Asian football, the World Cup in Russia proved testament that the quality has only seen an improvement over the cycle. Given where we were in 2014, the strides made towards 2018, and looking forward to an Asia hosted World Cup in 2022, the qualification revamp proved more than beneficial.

Heading into January’s Asian Cup should, in theory be considered the closing ceremony of the cycle, yet we’ll likely see a number of sides in transition, some only at the start of their progress towards the next World Cup challenge. The likes of Japan, Australia and South Korea have all appointed new coaches since their showing over the summer, while Uzbekistan, Qatar and Iraq have all expressed their long-term ambitions over an advanced run at the Asian Cup, after poor qualification showings.

Given the way the Asian calendar falls, the Asian Cup is slowly being pushed off the agenda. The Asian Cup is being treated by some as the starting point of World Cup preparation rather than the pinnacle of continental football. The AFC haven’t necessarily helped with this; marketing of the event has been slow on the uptake and the timing regularly draws criticisms. In such a vast and varied continent however, the balance is always going to be difficult to find.

With it comes change; not only a new ball (Molten?) or a new trophy (I know...), but an increase number of participants, from 16 to 24. While the technical quality has increased over the last the last four years, the gap between the elite and the rest continues to widen, which could render many group stage matches irrelevant. As has been seen at regular U20 World Cups and at Euro 2016, an expansion to 24 also opens the back door to failure via the third-place lottery, which is neither clear enough to be useful to spectators or makes for an even comparison.

A less than competitive opening, which alludes to less shocks than normal, has already seen the likes of South Korea willingly sacrifice the inclusion of star striker Son Heung-min, while others look to rest injured or tired options until after the first phase. Already placed in a difficult window for European domestic leagues, the extra fixture pileup, can’t have eased the friction between clubs and countries.

We’ll also have VAR (from the quarter-finals onwards) to tackle, a system that despite a reportedly solid World Cup appearance (which I personally question), has been hit by controversy after controversy in Asian domestic football. Ask any Australian, Chinese or Saudi domestic football fan whether they’re looking forward to seeing it being introduced in the UAE, and I’d guess the response wouldn’t be so warm. The prospect of an entertaining, yet hot tempered matchup, akin to that of Iran v Iraq in 2015, may be slightly tarnished with such an introduction.

Links to Previews

Group A - UAE (Hosts), Thailand, India & Bahrain

Group B - Australia, Syria, Palestine & Jordan

Group C - South Korea, China, Philippines & Kyrgyzstan

Group D - Iran, Iraq, Vietnam & Yemen

Group E - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, North Korea & Lebanon

Group F - Japan, Uzbekistan, Oman & Turkmenistan

Bringing it back round to the football, the best team over the last four years Iran start as sizeable favourites to win their first continental prize since the 1970s. Their showing in Russia was arguably their nation’s greatest footballing performance on the world stage, with an array of talent at their disposal and Carlos Queiroz in the dugout, they look well placed to live up to the expectations.

The usual candidates are their greatest opposition. On the back of making it to the World Cup knockout stages, a reinvigorated and fresh-looking Japan under new coach Hajme Moriyasu look to have the raw enthusiasm to blaze through the tournament, while Australia, despite now being under Graham Arnold can call upon a similar personnel selection that sealed the title four years ago.

South Korea come into it in the greatest form, having tested themselves against the very best in Asia on foreign soil. Another new coach Paulo Bento hasn’t tinkered as much as others and has the luxury of relying on the best player in Asia within his ranks, and arguably the only centre forward in consistent form amongst the big four.

On the fringes, the emergence of Team-2022 for Qatar, makes Felix Sanchez’s young guns a team everyone wants to see tested at competitive level, while eternal bridesmaids Uzbekistan, under Hector Cuper also provide an appetising side show in transition. Given the expansion, the likes of Yemen, Kyrgyzstan and Philippines make their tournament debuts, while Lebanon and Turkmenistan qualify only for their second appearances.

Ahead of the tournament, I’ve profiled each competing nation in some detail, to establish what this competition means to them, both in their footballing development sense and in their individual coach’s ideology, and which players we could be singing the praises of come the grand final in February. Hopefully you’ll find them enjoyable and informative on the run up to the tournament.

With no further ado, utilising the official team bus slogans;

“One Team, One Nation” (Syria), “One Heartbeat” (Iran), with a “Never Say Never” (Bahrain) attitude. Will “Respect All”, but “Fear None” (Japan) and “Never Give Up” (Yemen), to prove their “Time is Now” (UAE).

This is where “We Will Triumph” (Palestine). “Heroes Will Rise” (Australia), upon “The Hope Of A Nation” (India). “Together As One” (Thailand), “Fighting For The Same Dream” (China), “One Dream” (Oman), “To Dream The Impossible” (Philippines), where “Lions Always Prevail” (Iraq).

All roads lead to Abu Dhabi, enjoy!