In fact, most people are not optimistic about the Hong Kong team being able to qualify in the group.

The Hong Kong team is in Group A, four teams in Group A, Australia, Iraq, Thailand and Hong Kong, among which Hong Kong is definitely the last.

This group of Australia is very strong. Whether it is the lineup or the world ranking, Australia is the top in Asia, and even completely surpasses strong teams such as South Korea, Japan, and Iran. It is probably not an exaggeration to use the words "stars" to describe the Australian team that participated in the Asian Cup for the first time.

So when forward Koville from the British Liverpool team vowed to win the Asian Cup trophy, no one thought he was too arrogant, because even traditional Asian teams such as Japan and Saudi Arabia regarded Australia as their biggest opponent to win the championship.

In the warm-up match not long ago, Australia's 2-o-clear victory over the Chinese team also showed that the Australian targeted the Asian Cup championship, which is not just a saying.

Since leaving Australia and joining the AFC in 25, the Australian team has always hoped to prove themselves on this new stage. In the 2016 World Cup, although the Australian team achieved the best results among all Asian participating teams, at least at that time, the outside world regarded them more as a team from Oceania. After all, except for the AFC Champions League, Australian football did not communicate much with other leagues.

The Australian Football Association attached enough importance to this Asian Cup because this is their first appearance in the Asian level official competition since joining the Asian football family.

To this end, head coach Arnold has summoned most of the players who play in the UK and other European leagues. Among the announced rosters, 19 players who play overseas, 7 of whom are from the UK and two are from Serie A.

In addition, the team even entered the preparation stage in advance. On June 21, they had already gathered in advance and the whole team gathered in Singapore. They spent about ten days there before going out to Thailand from there to prepare for the game against the Hong Kong team.

Since Australia, located in the southern hemisphere, is winter, this training camp in Singapore is particularly important for players. It can be seen from this that the Australians have long been determined to win the championship.

Australian players are also full of expectations for the team's Asian Cup trip.

Covell, who has been resting for 11 months due to injury, said that his injury has fully recovered and will not affect his participation in the Asian Cup. "I can't wait to prepare for the game now. In the past two years, Australia has not achieved anything, but we have gained more expectations after the World Cup in Germany. To prove that we should win the honor, winning the Asian Cup can tell everything."

Goalkeeper Schwarzer, who plays for Inmidelsburg, said that being regarded as a favorite to win the championship is a brand new feeling. "Last year's experience in the World Cup round of 16 in Germany could help us achieve good results in the Asian Cup, which is a challenge for us, and we are eager to face this challenge."

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 favorites to win the championship."

Midfielder Bresciano from Serie A Palermo believes that if he can win the Asian Cup, it will be a very wonderful memory. "If he can win the Asian Cup, it will be helpful to our players and our country's sports, and it will also make the world remember the football we play more."

Compared with players, the Australian Football Association obviously attaches more importance to the status of the Asian football landscape obtained through this Asian Cup. After all, the qualifiers for the South African World Cup will start next year. Whether they can qualify in the relatively weak Asian region is largely related to whether they can "shock" their competitors in the Asian Cup. "Participating in the Asian Cup is a historical event and a glory for all Australians. We will send a strongest lineup to participate in the competition, hoping to win the championship."

Australian Football Association 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, just like the domestic situation in Iraq where civil strife is constantly rising. Iraqi football is difficult to have peace.

About a week before the opening of the Asian Cup, the Iraqi Football Association made an unexpected decision: Salman, the head coach who led Iraq into this Asian Cup, was dismissed, and Brazilian Vieira was replaced. At the same time, three players of the national team were removed from the national team for violating discipline and suspended for two years. The Iraqi team, which was not strong in the past, was cast a thick shadow before going out.

In 2oo4 years, Salman participated in the Asian Cup held in China as the head coach of the Iraqi team. The offensive football he advocated gave people a refreshing feeling. Although he lost to the Chinese team in the quarter-finals, the Iraqi team achieved the best results in history in the subsequent Athens Olympics, and Salman also became the hero in the minds of Iraqi fans. In last year's Asian Cup qualifiers, 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 unbeaten, and obtained the right to qualify as the first in the group, which shamed the national team led by Zhu Guanghu.

The reason why Salman was dismissed was mainly because he performed poorly in the Gulf Cup in January this year. Iraq, which originally wanted to make a difference in the Gulf Cup, lost to Saudi Arabia O-1 in the semi-finals. For this reason, the Iraqi Football Association established a review committee to explore the reasons for the Iraqi team's failure.

In the end, the Football Association accepted the recommendation of the review committee and lifted Salman's handsome seal. Then they found Brazilian Yuwan Vieira as the national team coach. Before joining the Iraqi national football team, Vieira had coached in African and Asian teams, and served as the head coach of Oman and Malaysia under 2O national teams.

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

Thailand's football history is a bit bleak. They only made a breakthrough in the Asian Cup in 1972. That time they lost to North Korea in the semi-finals, and eventually defeated Myanmar with a penalty shootout and won third place.

This is also the best result that the Thai national team has achieved in the Asian arena.

However, in Southeast Asia, the Thai team has always appeared as a strong team. In 1996, 2ooo and 2oo, they won three Tiger Cup championships. At the Southeast Asian Games, they were regular visitors on the championship podium, winning the championship trophy 11 times.

Despite participating in the past four Asian Cups, the embarrassment of the Thai team was that they failed to win even a single game, let alone enter the knockout stage. They almost achieved this goal in the 2ooo Asian Cup in Lebanon, but eventually lost in the battle with the hosts.

In 2oo3 years, Peter White, a British man who coached the Thai team for many years, left office. The Thai national team lost completely in 2oo4 years. Whether it was the Asian Cup or the Tiger Cup, or the subsequent World Cup Asian qualifiers, they failed to achieve good results.

However, the Thai U national team performed well in the Southeast Asian Games in 2005, which was also the seventh consecutive time that the Thai team won the championship in this event. More importantly, through this game, a considerable reserve force for youth football emerged in the Thai team, which is also regarded as the greatest capital for Thai football to make breakthroughs in the future.

Although the Thai team's record is not good, they are still confident. In the warm-up match, they defeated the "strong" Chinese team 1-o, while the Thai team, who played at home, set their goal on the group qualifying line.

"The support of fans will give us endless fighting spirit, and we will definitely create miracles." When talking about the Asian Cup, Chavet, the head coach of Thailand in 25 years, seemed full of confidence.

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

According to an unwritten practice, the host country will definitely be cared for in the group stage to ensure that one of them can at least qualify in the group. Most media believe that if Thailand wants to break out of Group A with Australia and Iraq, in addition to its own swing, the cheers of home fans may be their greatest capital.

Among the comments from many media, East Asia Sports' comments on Group A have received a lot of recognition--

Australia, a world-class team.

Iraq, the tough Iraqis are the most likely to create miracles.

Thailand, the most promising host.

The Hong Kong team and the last-rate team can only learn from the experience of the competition.

In short, the hope of qualifying in Group A is very slim. In this case, it is easy to understand that the Hong Kong team is not paid attention to. Even if Wan Sheng leads Hong Kong, the Hong Kong team is still the Hong Kong team. The mass media does not think that an excellent head coach can change anything. After all, Wan Sheng has been leading Hong Kong for only more than half a month. What progress can be made after more than half a month of preparation?

Many media are almost unpopular with the Hong Kong team.

In this public opinion atmosphere, the Hong Kong team silently trained and prepared for the match against Australia. As the head coach, Wan Sheng seemed very low-key and Hong Kong players were also very low-key. So fewer media reporters came to interview. Except for those Hong Kong media that firmly supported the Hong Kong team, there were no other media reporters in front of the hotel where the Hong Kong team stayed. (To be continued.)

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Chapter completed!