In fact, the vast majority of people are not optimistic that the Hong Kong team will be able to qualify from the group.

Hong Kong are in Group A, with four teams in Group A: Australia, Iraq, Thailand and Hong Kong, of which Hong Kong is certainly at the bottom.

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 overshadowed South Korea, Japan, Iran and other strong teams, with the words "starry" to describe the Australian team participating in the Asian Cup for the first time, I am afraid it is not an exaggeration.

So when Colwill, a striker from Liverpool in the Premier League, vowed to win the Asian Cup, no one thought he was too arrogant, because even the traditional Asian powerhouses such as Japan and Saudi Arabia regarded Australia as their biggest rival to win the championship.

Australia's clean 2-0 win over China in the recent warm-up match also shows that Australians are aiming for the Asian Cup title, not just talking.

Since joining the AFC in 2005, the Australian team has been looking to prove themselves on this new stage. In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, although the Australian team achieved the best result among all the Asian participating teams, at least at that time, the outside world still regarded them more as a team from Oceania, after all, except for the AFC Champions League, Australian football did not have much communication with other leagues.

The Australian Football Federation has paid enough attention to this Asian Cup, because this is their first appearance in an official competition at Asian level since joining the Asian football family.

To that end, manager Trent Alexander-Arnold has recalled the vast majority of his players who have played in the Premier League and other European leagues, and the 23-man squad that has been announced includes 19 players who have played overseas, seven of whom are from the Premier League and two from Serie A.

In addition, the team entered the state of preparation in advance, on June 21. They had assembled in advance and the whole team was assembled in Singapore, where they spent about ten days before heading from there for Thailand to prepare for their first match against Hong Kong.

With Australia in the southern hemisphere in the middle of winter, the training camp in Singapore was particularly important for the players, and it was clear that the Australians were already aiming for the title.

For the team's first trip to the Asian Cup, the Australian players are also full of anticipation.

Mr. Cowell, who has been out for 11 months due to injury, said he had fully recovered from his injury. "I can't wait to get on the pitch now, Australia haven't achieved anything in the last two years, and we have had more expectations after the World Cup in Germany. To prove that we deserve the honour, only winning the Asian Cup will speak for itself. ”

Middlesbrough goalkeeper Schwarzer said it was a new feeling to be the favourite, "The experience of the last 16 of last year's World Cup in Germany helped us to do well in the Asian Cup, which is a challenge for us. We aspire to face this challenge. ”

The 34-year-old said, "Iran, South Korea, Japan and others have all played in the World Cup, they are all real threats, but there is no doubt about it. We are also favourites. ”

Bresciano, a midfielder from Serie A team Palermo, believes that it will be a wonderful memory if he can win the Asian Cup, "If he can win the Asian Cup. It's good for our players and for our country's sport, and it will make the world remember the football we play even more. ”

The Australian Football Federation clearly values the place it has gained on the Asian football map through this Asian Cup more than the players. After all, the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa will start next year, and whether they can successfully qualify in the relatively weak Asian region is largely directly related to whether they can "shock" their competitors in the Asian Cup, "Participating in the Asian Cup is a historical event, and it is the glory of all Australians, and we will send the strongest team to participate in the competition, hoping to win the championship." ”

Australian Football Federation CEO Ben Barkley said, "We are looking forward to winning the title and looking forward to winning more honours for Asian football in the years to come. ”

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In addition to Australia, the Iraqi team is also very strong, and like the domestic situation in Iraq, which is full of civil strife, Iraqi football is hardly at peace.

About a week before the start of the Asian Cup, the Iraqi Football Federation made an unexpected decision: the head coach Salman, who led the Iraqi team to this Asian Cup, stepped down and was replaced by Brazilian Vieira. At the same time, three players of the national team were removed from the national football team for violating discipline and banned for two years.

In 2004, Salman participated in the Asian Cup in China as the head coach of the Iraqi team, and his advocacy of offensive football gave people a refreshing feeling. Although they lost to China in the quarter-finals, the Iraqi team achieved the best result in history at the Athens Olympics, and Salman became a hero in the hearts 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, and in the two games, one win and one draw remained undefeated, and won the right to qualify as the first in the group, which humiliated the national team led by Zhu Guanghu.

Salman's dismissal was mainly due to his poor performance in the Gulf Cup in January this year, when the Iraqi team, which had to make a difference in the Gulf Cup, lost 0-1 to Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals, for which the Iraqi Football Federation set up a review committee to explore the reasons for the Iraqi team's defeat.

Eventually, the Football Association accepted the review committee's recommendation and removed Salman from his position. They then brought in Brazilian Juwan Vieira as the national team coach, and before joining the Iraqi national team, Vieira had coached African and Asian teams, and served as the head coach of the Oman and Malaysian under-20 national teams.

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After Australia and Iraq, there is the host Thailand.

Thailand's football history is a bit bleak, with only a breakthrough in the 1972 Asian Cup, when they lost to North Korea on penalties in the semi-finals before finishing third on penalties against Myanmar.

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

However, in Southeast Asia, Thailand has always been a strong team, winning the Tiger Cup three times in 1996, 2000 and 2002, and at the SEA Games, they were regulars on the winner's podium, winning the trophy 11 times.

Despite having competed in the last four Asian Cup competitions, it was an embarrassment for the Thai team that they had not even been able to win a single game, let alone reach the knockout stages. At the 2000 Asian Cup in Lebanon, they came close to achieving that goal, but were ultimately defeated by the hosts.

In 2003, the departure of Briton Peter White, who had been in charge of the Thai team for many years, and the Thai national team suffered a total defeat in 2004, neither the Asian Cup nor the Tiger Cup, including the subsequent Asian qualifiers for the World Cup.

However, Thailand's U23 national team won the 2005 SEA Games with a strong performance, marking the seventh consecutive time Thailand have won the event. More importantly, through this competition, the Thai team has emerged with a fairly strong youth football reserve, which is also regarded as the biggest capital for Thai football to make breakthroughs in the coming period.

Although the Thai team has a poor record, they are still confident, in the warm-up match, they defeated the "strong" Chinese team 1-0, but the home team Thailand set their sights on the group qualification.

"The support of the fans will give us a lot of motivation and we will definitely do wonders." When it comes to the Asian Cup, head coach Chavit, who took over the Thai team in 2005, is full of confidence.

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

It is an unwritten convention that the host nations will certainly be given some level of care in the group stage to ensure that at least one of them will make it out of the group, while much of the media believes that the Thai team will have to pay more than their own performances if they want to make it out of Group A with Australia and Iraq.

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Among the comments of many media, "East Asia Sports" has received a lot of recognition for its comments on Group A.

Australia, a world-class team.

Iraq, the resilient Iraqis are the most likely miracle worker.

Thailand, the most promising host.

The Hong Kong team, the bottom team, can only learn from the experience of the competition.

In short, the hope of the Hong Kong team in Group A is very slim, in this case, the Hong Kong team is not noticed is very understandable, 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 led the Hong Kong team, and it has only been more than half a month, more than half a month of preparation, what progress can be made?

Many media outlets are almost unoptimistic about the Hong Kong team.

In this atmosphere of public opinion, the Hong Kong team is silently doing training, silently preparing for the game with Australia, Wan Sheng, as the head coach, seems very low-key, and the Hong Kong players are also very low-key, so the media reporters who come to interview have become fewer, except for those Hong Kong media who resolutely support the Hong Kong team, in front of the hotel where the Hong Kong team stays, there are no other media reporters. (To be continued.) )