Qatar hope to make history once again while hosting the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 from Jan. 12 to Feb. 10, 2024, the 18th edition that marks the defending champions 11th continental appearance.
Having hosted the tournament in 1988 and 2011, this will be the second time in 12 years for Doha and the third in its history to host the event that was initiated in 1956. It also comes a year after an impressive and historic hosting of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Qatar lifted their first-ever Asian Cup trophy in the UAE in early 2019, as the fourth Arab and Gulf team to claim the title after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. But the title-holders know that their campaign towards a second trophy will not be easy amid Asian teams high-level performance in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Saudi Arabia defeated World Cup winner Argentina in group stage, Japan outperformed Germany and Spain in their group before losing to Croatia in the round of 16, and South Korea qualified as runners-up of their group before being eliminated by Brazil in the knockouts.
Qatar enter the tournament under coach Carlos Queiroz, replacing Spaniard Felix Sanchez who is now leading Ecuador.
The Portuguese who led Iran in three consecutive World Cup editions (Brazil 2014, Russia 2018, and Qatar 2022) dreams of his first continental trophy. While leading Egypt, he was close to the Africa Cup of Nations title in 2021, but they lost the final to Senegal on 4-2 penalty shoot-out.
The 70-year-old knows that Qatar are one of the favorites to secure the title, given the home-field advantage and their pre-tournament preparations including featuring in the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup in the US. For the Gold Cup, Qatar were drawn in Group B along with Mexico, Honduras and Haiti. This tournament from June 24 to July 16 will give Queiroz an opportunity to test the Qatari teams readiness during strong matches against high-level teams.
Queiroz also seeks a better performance for the Qatari team to give a better image after their underwhelmed World Cup campaign that saw them being eliminated from the group stage.
In the Asian Cup qualifiers, Qatar topped their Group E that included Oman, India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh with 22 points seven wins, one draw and zero defeat. They scored 18 goals, while conceding only one goal. They defeated Afghanistan 6-0 and 1-0, Bangladesh 2-0 and 5-0, and Oman 2-1 and 1-0. They were held to a goalless tie by India at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium before making an away 1-0 victory.
Over their previous 10 appearances, Qatar played 39 matches, wining 13 matches, including seven in the 2019 edition. They scored 52 goals, the last of which was by Akram Afif against Japan. They advanced to the knock-outs on three occasions – 2000, 2011 (quarter-finals) and 2019 (champions).
In their first four appearances Kuwait 1980, Singapore 1984, Doha 1988 and Japan 1992, Qatar were eliminated from group stage. In Beirut 2000, they finished third in the group stage with three draws against Japan, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, before losing to China 3-1 in the quarterfinals.
Qatar suffered an early elimination in the 2004 edition after they came last in Group A with two defeats and a single tie. In 2007 in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, they also finished last in Group B that saw them competing with Japan, Vietnam and UAE.
In Doha 2011, Qatar finished second in Group A that included Uzbekistan, China and Kuwait on six points from two victories and a loss. However, they suffered a 3-2 quarter-final loss to Japan.
In Australia 2015, they suffered three defeats under Algerian coach Djamel Belmadi against UAE, Bahrain and Iran to leave the tournament from the group stage.
Source: Qatar News Agency