The draw for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup group stages has been held on Thursday with a number of interesting groups being thrown out, one of them being ASEAN rivals Indonesia and Vietnam being drawn into the same group as continental powerhouses Japan and West Asian aces Iraq.
Shin Tae-yong’s Indonesia will face a daunting task in Qatar as they will take on arguably the best side in ASEAN, the record four-time champion of the Asian Cup, and the 2007 champion of the competition in Group D.
While Vietnam will be an unknown variable underneath new head coach Philippe Troussier, they are expected to bring their heavy hitters in Nguyen Quang Hai, Nguyen Cong Phuong, and Nguyen Tien Linh, while Japan are expected to bring the likes of Kaoru Mitoma, Takefusa Kubo, and Daichi Kamada into the tournament. Iraq, on the other hand, are expected to be headlined by Manchester United youngster Zidane Iqbal.
Indonesia will kick-off their Asian Cup campaign at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al-Rayyan with a match against Iraq on January 15th of next year.
Fellow ASEAN nations Thailand and Malaysia received manageable groups for the upcoming Asian Cup. Thailand were drawn into Group F with Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Kyrgyzstan, while Malaysia are in Group E with South Korea, Jordan, and Bahrain.
Hosts Qatar are drawn to Group A with China, Lebanon, and tournament debutants Tajikistan, while Australia are in Group B with India, Syria, and Uzbekistan. Last but not least, Hong Kong found themselves surrounded with West Asian opposition in Group C in the form of the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Palestine.