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Victor Dias - January 8, 2024
Football fans will witness high-octane matches in Group C of the AFC Asian Cup this year. Many fans are interested in Group C as they consist of Iran, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, and Palestine.
The first fixture of Group C will be between United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong at Khalifa International Stadium. UAE are one of the favourites as in the 2019 Asian Cup, they had a great campaign reaching the semi-finals. However, Iran are not to be underestimated.
The team led by Amir Ghalenoei are the second-best ranked amongst AFC teams. They are one of the best teams in this competition as they won three titles so far. Their first appearance was back in 1968. They are well-prepared ahead of their first group-stage game against Palestine.
Manager Amir Ghalenoei has selected five attacking players and they aim to secure maximum GF in Group C. Team Melli top the list of the highest-scoring teams in the history of the AFC Asian Cup with 131 goals.
All eyes will be on Mehdi Taremi as he scored 12 international goals during the 2023 calendar year, which included hat-tricks against Afghanistan and Kyrgyz Republic in the CAFA Nations Cup in June and goals against Hong Kong and Uzbekistan in November.
UAE have consistently performed well in this competition since the last two editions. They hosted the 2019 Asian Cup and reached the semi-finals. Manager Paulo Bento will expect Ali Mabkhout to take the goal-scoring duty for his team. He is the joint-third among its all-time leading goalscorers in this competition– only behind Ali Daei and Lee Dong-gook.
The team recently defeated Oman and Kyrgyzstan in friendlies. With the likes of Ali Mabkhout and Fábio Lima up-front, Al-Abyad are one of the favourites to win this competition.
Hong Kong will make a historic return to the AFC Asian Cup as their last appearance in this competition was over 50 years ago. They secured their spot in Group C after defeating Afghanistan by 2-1 and Cambodia by 3-0. They impressed everyone as they defeated their rivals China in a friendly game. Manager Jørn Andersen changed the team’s dynamics in the last two years. However, he will advise his team to be cautious against Iran and UAE.
In June 2022, Palestine qualified for their third straight AFC Asian Cup, winning all three games against Mongolia, Yemen and Philippines under the guidance of manager Makram Daboub. They are in a difficult group as they their opponents are UEA, Iran, and Hong Kong. Their friendly game against Uzbekistan did not work out and they lost by 1-0. In the last six months, they have not won a single international game.
The main rivalry will be between Iran and UAE in Group C. Iran have a well-balanced squad consisting of experienced as well as youth players. UAE’s main advantage is that they have experienced players like Ali Mabkhout who is a top-level goalscorer. Therefore, UAE and Iran have a better opportunity to finish within top two of Group C. Palestine will face a tough time in this tournament as they are facing a winless drought. Finally, Hong Kong’s situation is different as they are ranked 150th in the FIFA ranking. However, they showed strength when they played against China. We can expect Hong Kong to give a tough game for UAE and Iran.
