v5 Chapter 296： Group A situation

In fact, most people are not optimistic that the Hong Kong team can qualify for the group.

The Hong Kong team is in the group, with four teams in Australia, Iraq, Thailand and Hong Kong, of which Hong Kong is definitely the bottom of the team.

This group of Australia is very strong. Regardless of the lineup or world rankings, Australia is the top in Asia, and even completely overshadowed strong teams such as South Korea, Japan, and Iran. The words "splendid star" are used to describe the first participation in Asia. The Australian team in the cup is probably not an exaggeration.

Therefore, when striker Keville from the Premier League Liverpool team vowed to win the championship of the Asian Cup, no one felt that he was too arrogant, because even the traditional Asian strong teams such as Japan and Saudi Arabia regard Australia as the The biggest opponent to win the championship.

In the warm-up match not long ago, Australia's 2-0 clean victory over the Chinese team's record also shows that the Australians are aiming at the Asian Cup champions, not just talking.

Since leaving Australia and joining Asia in 2005, the Australian team has always wanted to prove itself on this brand new stage. In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, although the Australian team achieved the best results of all Asian teams, at least at that time, the outside world still regarded them as a team from Oceania. After all, apart from the AFC Champions League, Australia There is not much communication between football and other leagues.

In this Asian Cup, the Australian Football Association paid enough attention, because this is their first appearance in the Asian level official game since they joined the Asian football family.

To this end, coach Arnold recalled most of the players who played in the Premier League and other European leagues. In the 23-man list that has been announced, there are 19 players who played overseas, of which 7 are from the Premier League and two are from Serie A.

In addition, the team entered the preparation state in advance. On June 21st, they had assembled in advance and the whole team was concentrated in Singapore. They spent about ten days there before setting off for Thailand to prepare for the first game with the Hong Kong team.

As Australia in the southern hemisphere is in winter, this training in Singapore is particularly important for players. It can also be seen from this that the Australians are already determined to win the championship.

For the team's first Asian Cup tour, Australian players are also full of expectations.

Kewell, who has been rested for 11 months due to injury, said that his injury has fully recovered and will not affect his participation in the Asian Cup. "I ca n’t wait to prepare for the game now. In the past two years, the Australian team has not achieved anything, but we have more expectations after the World Cup in Germany. In order to prove that we deserve honor, only win Asia The Cup winner tells everything. "

Goalkeeper Schwarzer, who played for Middlesbrough in the Premier League, said it was a new feeling to be regarded as a favorite to win the championship. "Last year ’s experience of the World Cup in Germany 16 can help us achieve good results in the Asian Cup, which is for us. It is a challenge, and we are eager to face it. "

The 34-year-old veteran said, "Iran, South Korea, Japan and other teams have participated in the World Cup. They are all real threats, but there is no doubt that we are also the top favorites."

Bresiano, a midfielder from the Serie A Palermo team, believes that if they can win the Asian Cup, it will be a very wonderful memory, "If you can win the Asian Cup, this will not only affect our players or our country. Sports are helpful and will make the world remember the football we play more. "

Compared with players, the Australian Football Association clearly values ​​the status of the Asian football team obtained through this Asian Cup. After all, the South Africa World Cup qualifier will start next year. Whether they can successfully qualify in the relatively weak Asian region is largely related to whether they can "shock" their competitors in the Asian Cup. "Participation in the Asian Cup is a historical event that belongs to all Australians. Glorious. We will send one of the strongest lineups to participate, hoping to win the championship. "

Australian Football Association CEO Ben Barkley said, "We look forward to winning the championship and look forward to winning more honors for Asian football in the future."

————

In addition to Australia, the Iraqi team is also very strong, the same as the internal situation of Iraq with constant civil strife. Iraqi football can hardly be peaceful.

About a week before the opening of the Asian Cup, the Iraqi Football Association made an unexpected decision: leading the Iraqi team into the Asian Cup coach Salman after class, replacing him with Brazilian Vieira . At the same time, the three players of the national team were removed from the national football team due to disciplinary violations and were suspended for two years. The Iraqi team, which was not originally strong, was cast a heavy shadow before the expedition.

In 2004, Salman participated in the Asian Cup in China as the head coach of the Iraq team. The offensive football he advocated gave a refreshing feeling. Although they lost to the Chinese team in the quarter-finals, the Iraqi team achieved the best results in the subsequent Athens Olympics. Salman has also become the hero of Iraqi fans. In the Asian Cup qualifiers last year, the Iraqi team led by Salman was in the same group as the Chinese team. In the two matches, one win and one draw remained undefeated. They won the qualifying position as the first group and let Zhu Guanghu lead the country The team is ashamed.

The reason why Salman was dismissed was mainly due to his poor performance in the Gulf Cup in January this year. The Iraqi team that had to make a difference in the Gulf Cup lost to the Saudi team 0 to 1 in the semi-finals. A review committee was discussed to discuss the reasons for the failure of the Iraqi team.

In the end, the Football Association accepted the review committee's recommendation and dismissed Salman's coach. Subsequently, they recruited Brazilian Juwan Vieira as the national team coach. Before joining the Iraqi national football team, Vieira had coached in Africa and Asian teams, and had served as Oman and Malaysia under the age of 20. The head coach of the team.

————

After Australia and Iraq, it is the host Thailand team.

Thailand ’s football history is a bit bleak. They only made a breakthrough in the Asian Cup in 1972. That time they lost the penalties to the North Korean team in the semi-final. They finally defeated Myanmar with a penalty shootout and won the third place. name.

This is also the best result of the Thai national team in the Asian arena.

However, within Southeast Asia, the Thai team has always appeared as a strong team. In 1996, 2000 and 2002, they won the three Tiger Cup championships. At the Southeast Asian Games, they were regular visitors on the championship podium. , Won the championship trophy 11 times.

Despite participating in the past four Asian Cup games, the embarrassment for the Thai team is that they have not even won a game, let alone entered the knockout stage. In the 2000 Lebanon Asian Cup, they were almost able to achieve this goal, but in the end they lost the battle with the host.

In 2003, Peter White, who had coached the Thai team for many years, left the country. The Thai national team lost in 2004. Whether it was the Asian Cup or the Tiger Cup, including the subsequent World Cup Asian qualifiers, they failed to achieve good results. Grades.

However, the Thai U23 national team performed well in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games and won the championship. This is the seventh consecutive Thai team's championship in this event. More importantly, through this game, a fairly strong reserve force of youth football has emerged in the Thai team, which is also regarded as the biggest cost of Thai football's breakthrough in the future.

Although the Thai team's record is not good, they are still confident. In the warm-up match, they defeated the "powerful" Chinese team 1-0. The home team of Thailand aimed at the group qualifying.

"The support of the fans will give us endless fighting spirit, and we will certainly create a miracle." When it comes to the Asian Cup, Chavet, the coach who took over the Thai team in 2005, was confident.

As one of the four host countries of the Asian Cup, the Thailand team is the strongest and the group has the greatest hope for qualifying.

According to an unwritten convention, the host country will definitely receive a certain degree of care in the group stage to ensure that one of them can at least qualify for the group, while most media believe that the Thailand team must have Australia and Iraq from the team. Breaking out of the group, in addition to their own play, the support of home fans may be their biggest cost.

————

In the comments of many media, "East Asian Sports" has received a lot of comments on the group's comments-

Australia, world-class strong team.

Iraq ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Tough Iraqis are the most likely to perform miracles.

Thailand, the most promising host.

The Hong Kong team, the last-rate team, can only come to absorb the experience of the competition.

In short, the hope of the Hong Kong team in the group is very slim. In this case, the Hong Kong team is well understood without attention. Even if Wansheng leads Hong Kong, the Hong Kong team is still the Hong Kong team. The mass media do not think that a good head coach What can be changed, after all, Wansheng has led Hong Kong, and it has just been more than half a month, and preparations for more than half a month, what progress can be made?

Many media outlets are almost pessimistic about the Hong Kong team.

In this atmosphere of public opinion, the Hong Kong team silently trained and prepared for the game against Australia. Wan Sheng, as the head coach, seemed very low-key, and the Hong Kong players were also very low-key, so there were fewer media reporters to interview. In addition to those Hong Kong media who firmly support the Hong Kong team, other media reporters can no longer be seen in front of the hotel where the Hong Kong team stays. (To be continued.) () "Super Training Master" only represents the views of the author XX God. If you find that its content violates the laws of the country, please delete it. The position is only committed to providing a healthy and green reading platform. . 【】,thank you all!