The schedule and venues for the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup have been finalized as Klinsmann’s men look to win their first title in 63 years.
The AFC Asian Cup Organizing Committee announced today (Jan. 21) the schedule and venues for the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023. The tournament will kick off on January 12 and run through February 10 next year.
A total of nine venues will host the tournament, with the opening and final matches taking place at Lusail Stadium. The nine venues include the seven stadiums that hosted Qatar‘s 2022 World Cup matches – Albayt, Al-Janub, Altumama, Ahmad Bin Ali, Education City, and Khalifa International Stadiums – as well as Jassim Bin Hamad and Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadiums, which are used by Qatar’s professional soccer teams.
South Korea will open their Group E campaign against Bahrain at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Jan. 15. They will then face Jordan on January 20 at Altumama Stadium. The third match against Malaysia will be held on January 25 at Al Janub Stadium.
The venues for the knockout stages have also been announced. South Korea will play at Al Thumama Stadium if they finish first in Group E and advance to the Round of 16. The winner of Group E will face the runner-up of Group D, which includes Japan, Iraq, Indonesia, and Vietnam. If they finish second in Group E and advance to the Round of 16, they will play at Education City Stadium. The second-place finisher in Group E will face the first-place finisher in Group F. Group F includes Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, and Oman.
If South Korea make it to the quarterfinals, they’ll have a familiar venue. It’s Education City Stadium, where Bentoho played all three games of their last World Cup in Qatar 2022. If they make it to the quarterfinals, they’ll head back to Al Thumama Stadium.
The final will be played at the Lusail Stadium, which hosted the final of the Qatar 2022 World Cup. It was there that Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, defeated France in penalty kicks to lift the World Cup championship trophy.
The Asian Cup was originally scheduled to take place in China this past July. However, after China withdrew its hosting rights due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was moved to Qatar. The tournament has also been pushed back to January next year. The tournament will feature a total of 24 nations, divided into six groups. The top four best performing teams from the first, second, and third places in each group will advance to the round of 16 tournament to compete for the title.
South Korea will be attempting to win the Asian Cup for the first time in 64 years. It hasn’t won the tournament since its inaugural editions in 카지노 1954 and 1960. They reached the final of the 2014 tournament but finished as runners-up to hosts Australia, and were eliminated in the last edition in 2019 after losing 0-1 to Qatar in the quarterfinals.
Both Klinsmann and Son Heung-min have stated that winning the Asian Cup is their goal. “My first goal since taking over is to win the Asian Cup,” Klinsmann said in his first interview after arriving at Incheon International Airport in February. Captain Son Heung-min also said that winning the Asian Cup is his biggest dream for the rest of his career. “It’s important for me to bring back the Asian Cup trophy that we haven’t won in a long time,” he said in an interview with Paju NFC during the A-match call-up in March. “I’ve been to the final, I’ve been to the semifinals, and I’ve been knocked out in the quarterfinals. I want to turn these painful experiences into good ones and win the Asian Cup, which is my biggest dream.”
Son Heung-min has played in three Asian Cups so far. He made his first appearance at the tournament in 2011 when he was just 18 years old and finished in the quarterfinals, before reaching the tournament final in 2015. He scored a theatrical goal off a pass from Ki Sung-yueng in second-half stoppage time, trailing 0-1, but conceded in extra time to lose the title. After the game, Son broke down in tears as he lay on the ground. Fans will be watching closely to see if Klinsmann’s men can bring home the Asian Cup trophy after 64 years.