Road to AFC Asian Cup 2023: Favourites all qualified, Tajikistan makes historic first appearance

The road to the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup was not easy for the qualified teams. While the new edition will feature Tajikistans national team for the first time. It will also see Kyrgyzstan make its second appearance, with Palestine and Lebanon making their third.
The Qatari team topped Group E that featured Oman, India, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Qatar got 22 points thanks to going undefeated with 7 wins and one draw.
During their previous 10 participations, the Qatari national team played 39 matches, during which they won 13 matches, seven came in the 2019 edition. They scored 52 goals, the last of which came with the signing of Akram Afif against the Japanese national team.
Qatar, the defending champions, were accompanied by the Omani team, who finished second in the Group after earning 18 points from 6 victories and losing on two occasions. It will be Omans fifth participation in the competition after years (2004, 2007, 2015, 2019).
Meanwhile four-time champions Japan won all matches of Group F, scoring 48 goals and conceded just two. They beat Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Mongolia. Japan lost the 2019 final to Qatar and will be looking to go one better this time around.
For their part, the Australian national team, which had previously participated in 4 previous occasions (2007, 2011, 2015, 2019), did not face great difficulties in securing their place in the 2023 continental championship finals. They won all eight matches in the qualifiers. In 2019, Australia were knocked out of the quarter-finals after losing to hosts the UAE. This time around, they will be seeking to win their second title, after winning on their first participation in 2015.
The Iranian national team reached the finals for the 15th time, as it managed to top Group C of the second round of the qualifiers with 18 points (6 victories against defeat on two occasions).
In the previous edition of the competition, the Iranian national team were knocked out of the semi-finals, and in the new tournament version it is looking to win the Asian Cup for the fourth time, as it achieved its last three victories in the continental title in 1976 after being crowned twice before in the 1968 and 1972 editions.
Iraq came second in Irans group and qualified to the championship. They collected 17 points from 5 wins, two draws, and one loss.
For their part, Saudi Arabia won Group D five points ahead of Uzbekistan, thanks to six wins and two draws. The team last won the continental competition in 1996, and will be seeking to add to their tally for three championships.
South Korea for their part finished Group H six points ahead of Lebanon, with 16 points from five wins and a draw. South Korea last won the competition in 1960, and they will be looking to end the drought this time around.
The Korean team was accompanied to the finals for the same group by the Lebanese team, which came runner-up with 10 points from 3 wins, a draw and defeat on two occasions, marking its third presence in the continental championship.
Lebanon will be looking to give a good account of themselves in this years edition, after failing to qualify in 2019.
For its part, the UAE national team overcame its stumbling start to lead Group G against Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, and got 18 points from 6 victories compared to its defeat on two occasions, to reserve its place in the continental championship for the 11th time.
Vietnam is the only team from Southeast Asian region that qualifies for the continental finals through the first qualifying stage, by finishing runner-up behind the UAE, after collecting 17 points from 5 wins, a draw, and two losses. The team reached the quarter finals in 2019, their best outcome out of four participations.
For their part, the qualifiers were easy for the Syrian national team, as it topped Group A during the second round with 21 points (7 wins and a loss). They will look to go a bit further than the group stage this time, compared to 2019 when they collected only one point in the group stage.
As for the Chinese national team, the runner-up in the 1984 and 2004 editions, they came second in the qualifiers behind Syria. They got 19 points from eight matches (6 wins, a draw and one defeat).
The qualifiers playoffs saw 11 teams join the original 13 that secured their qualification.
In the first group, the Jordanian team topped the standings after its great victory over Kuwait, 3-0, to lead with 9 points from three matches.
After being eliminated on penalties by Vietnam in the Round of 16 at UAE 2019, Jordan are looking to go far in the next edition.
Indonesia also qualified by obtaining 6 points in Group A, to record its fifth presence after participating in the editions of the years (1996, 2000, 2004, 2007).
In the second group, the Palestinian national team decided the qualification card, after concluding the lead with 9 points from three victories, to score its third appearance in the continental finals after the 2015 and 2019 editions, while the second Philippine team in the group failed to reach the finals after collecting 4 points.
As for the third group, the Uzbekistan team succeeded in occupying the top spot with 9 points from three victories, so that the Uzbekistan team maintained its recent successes by qualifying for every edition of the Asian Cup finals since 1996
In Group D, India took the lead, with 9 points out of three wins to book its place in the tournament for the fifth time.
In turn, the Bahraini national team led Group E with 9 points as well to reach the Asian Cup for a seventh time. Their best performance was in 2004 when they reached the semi-finals.
Malaysia qualified by finishing second behind Bahrain with 6 points, as Malaysia ended a 42-year drought to make its fourth appearance.
Having last appeared at the Continental Finals as co-hosts in 2007, Malaysia is looking forward to standing alongside the continent's elite teams.
In Group F, Tajikistan was level with Kyrgyzstan, with 7 points each, securing their qualification in the process. Tajikistan is the only team that will appear for the first time in the continental finals, while the Kyrgyzstan national team, which participated for the first time in the continental finals in 2019, when it reached the round of sixteen, hopes to repeat the same scenario in its second participation.