East Asia and West Asia compete at Asian Cup 2023

WEST ASIA IS BETTER IN MONEY

The very first detail - the 2023 Asian Cup (or Asian Football Championship) must be postponed to early 2024 and held in Qatar - has partly shown the financial strength of West Asian countries. According to the plan, the tournament will take place in China, from June 16 to July 16, 2023. China withdrew, and the AFC chose Qatar as the host country for the tournament postponed to January 2024. Qatar easily beat Australia, Indonesia, and South Korea in the race to replace China as host. The reason is easy to understand: even when "not very interested", Qatar still shows superiority over its opponents from the East Asian region in terms of facilities, stadiums, and in general, in all factors related to... money. After all, Qatar has successfully organized the 2022 World Cup!

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are two other rich representatives of the West Asian region. If Saudi Arabia is not as rich, it will be difficult to invite Roberto Mancini, the coach who won EURO 2020 (with the Italian team).

Đông Á và Tây Á tranh hùng tại Asian Cup 2023- Ảnh 1. — Japan *(right)* and Iran, two strong candidates for the 2023 Asian Cup championship

The appearance of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Neymar, N'Golo Kante, Sadio Mane, Kadilou Koulibaly, Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson... has made the Saudi Arabian Pro-League much more attractive. When evaluating the overall strength of a football country, people often look at the level of the national championship, as an important foundation.

ASIA HAS MANY GOOD PLAYERS

But of course, football is not all about money. Professional ability is still the deciding factor, and that is why Qatar - despite all the best possible preparation - still lost all 3 group stage matches when hosting the 2022 World Cup. Having just appointed coach Tintin Marque more than a month ago, host Qatar is not highly rated at the 2023 Asian Cup. They are below the 2 most promising West Asian representatives in the Sky Bet championship betting table, Saudi Arabia (11/2 odds, meaning bet 2 win 11) and Iran (13/2). The highest possibility of winning the championship before the match belongs to Japan (2/1) and South Korea (9/2); Australia (13/2) is rated on par with Iran.

East Asian teams are superior in terms of individual quality, with dozens of great players playing at the highest level of European football. This is where East Asia has a clear advantage over West Asia. South Korea has the only Asian player on France Football's list of candidates for the 2023 Ballon d'Or - but that is not star Son Heung-min (it is Kim Min-jae, the best defender in Serie A last season, currently playing for Bayern Munich). Japan's Wataru Endo and Takehiro Tomiyasu are playing for Liverpool and Arsenal. That's just a quick look at the list of famous clubs. There are countless Japanese, Korean and Australian players playing in major European leagues. Indonesia also has one. In contrast, West Asia has only two notable cases, Iranian players Mehdi Taremi (Porto) and Sardar Azmoun (AS Roma).

Four different teams have won the last four Asian Cups (Iraq in 2007, Japan in 2011, Australia in 2015, Qatar in 2019), with Iraq and Qatar both being big surprises. To reiterate: winning the Asian Cup is one of the most unpredictable events in top-flight football. Apart from the first two editions (1956, 1960), which were very primitive with only four teams each, South Korea has never won the Asian Cup in the modern era of football. It has been 48 years since Iran won the championship!

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