Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait to compete in a more challenging Asian Cup for 2015

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for 2015 in Australia is expected to be more challenging for the Arab states that qualified.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq have fiercely contended for the Asian Cup throne in 2007 with Iraq winning, will also have to compete against one another again to make it through.

In the same time, both countries have qualified in one group with a strong rival such as China.

The Kuwaiti national team also has to face its old rival, Iran.
Abdul Aziz Hamada, the Kuwaiti team’s temporary coach, told sports.arabia.com that their “mission will be complicated” after placing Kuwait with Iran, Lebanon and Thailand.

The Emirati team too is highly expected to be among the finalists of the fifth group, after making it to the London 2012 Olympics with a fresh new team of promising players.

The 20 participating teams were divided into five groups after Tuesday’s lottery in Melbourne, each with four teams. According to the AFC’s official website, the top two teams from each group and the best third-placed team among all the groups will qualify for the tournament to be held in Australia in 2015.

Asian teams compete against each other for the cup every five years. In 2011, Japan was the winner.

The 11 Arab national teams are grouped as follows:

Group A: Jordan, Syria, Oman and Singapore.
Group B: Iran, Kuwait, Thailand and Lebanon.
Group C: Iraq, China, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
Group D: Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen and Malaysia.
Group E: Uzbekistan, UAE, Vietnam and Hong Kong.