Thailand coach predicts Korea and Japan will meet in the Asian Cup final

Asian Cup 2023 quarter-final schedule

18:30 February 2: Tajikistan 0-1 Jordan

22:30 2/2: Australia 1-2 Korea

18:30 February 3: Iran - Japan

22:30 February 3: Qatar - Uzbekistan

Both Japan and South Korea are teams that are more or less related to coach Masatada Ishii. Mr. Masatada Ishii is Japanese, while South Korea will be the opponent of the Thai team in the second round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia.

Thailand will play South Korea in both matches in March. These two matches could affect the chances of the team under coach Masatada Ishii to qualify for the next round.

Coach Masatada Ishii of Thailand (Photo: FAT).

Responding to Thai media after returning to Thailand with the Golden Temple team after the 2023 Asian Cup campaign (Thailand reached the round of 16, where they lost 1-2 to Uzbekistan), coach Masatada Ishii said: "I have studied the playing style of the Korean team".

"I think that in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers that will return in March, the Korean team will develop in the direction of what they are showing at this year's Asian Cup. Korea will advance to the final of this tournament to face the Japanese team," coach Masatada Ishii added.

Currently, Japan and South Korea are in two different brackets of the knockout stage of the 2023 Asian Cup. If both teams win all the way to the final day of the tournament, they will face each other in the championship match.

South Korea beat Australia to reach the semi-finals (Photo: AFC).

Asian football circles have always considered this a dream final, as the two football powers of Japan and Korea have continuously competed with each other for decades.

Although they are teams with a rich tradition in the Asian Cup (Japan has won 4 times, South Korea has won 2 times), Japan and South Korea have never met each other in an Asian championship final.

The last time South Korea reached the Asian Cup final was in 2015, when they lost 1-2 to Australia after 120 minutes of play. The last time Japan reached the Asian Cup final was in 2019, when they lost 1-3 to Qatar.

Even Thailand coach Masatada Ishii made a rather sad prediction for himself, a Japanese: "I think Korea will continue to improve and they will beat Japan in the final of the 2023 Asian Cup."

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/hlv-thai-lan-du-doan-han-quoc-va-nhat-ban-gap-nhau-o-chung-ket-asian-cup-20240203120134549.htm