January 8 – With simply 4 days left earlier than the kick-off on Friday (Jan 12) of the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar, there was a flurry of last-minute fixtures as nations nice tune squads or in some instances desperately search type and formation forward of the event.
Hong Kong’s shock 2-1 win over China behind closed doorways raised soccer’s geopolitical eyebrows, whereas event favourites Japan put 5 unanswered targets previous Thailand.
Most energetic on the ‘pleasant’ match circuit have been Saudi Arabia who beat Lebanon 1-0 and face consecutive warm-up video games in opposition to Palestine and Hong Kong on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Qatar’s closing warm-up recreation earlier than they open the event on Friday in opposition to Lebanon, noticed them lose 2-1 to Jordan.
The Qataris go into the event beneath a brand new head coach, Bartolomé Marquez, however with a lot of the workforce that gained the 2019 Asian Cup nonetheless in place. They are going to be reliant on the creativity of Akram Afif (ten assists on the final Asian Cup), and a return to goalscoring type by Almoez Ali. He hit 4 in opposition to Afghanistan suggesting he could also be peaking on the proper time in a latest pleasant by the Jordanian match wouldn’t have impressed confidence.
Afif scored for the Qataris however they had been typically overrun by the Jordanians whose shot rely of 17 in opposition to Qatar’s 4 indicated the movement of the sport.
Japan face Jordan on Tuesday in a warm-up recreation that may possible present a sign as as to whether the Jordanians are a brand new pressure to be careful for.
Different pre-tournament favourites negotiated their closing warm-ups video games efficiently. South Korea beat Iraq 1-0 whereas Australia put two previous Bahrain.
Iran beat Burkina Faso 1 and are in motion once more on Tuesday in opposition to Indonesia.
Thursday is the lull earlier than the storm with Lusail Stadium, the scene of the dramatic World Cup closing between Argentina and France in 2023, again on the world stage for the opening recreation. It’ll additionally shut out the event on February 10.
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