The final composition of the national teams of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan for the upcoming 2023 Asian Cup has become known. The tournament will be held in Qatar from January 12 to February 10 of this year, 2024.
Let us note that the Uzbek team’s final application did not include star forward and team captain Eldor Shomurodov. The football player of the Italian club “Cagliari” suffered a foot injury in mid-December and did not have time to fully recover by the start of the tournament. More details about the teams' applications can be found on the official website of the Asian Football Confederation.
Among the main contenders for victory in the Asian Cup, experts name the teams of Japan, Australia, Iran and the host country of the tournament, Qatar. A total of 24 national teams will take part in the competition.
In group “B”, Uzbekistan will play with Australia, Syria and India. The Tajikistan team is in group “A”, where its opponents will be Qatar, China and Lebanon. The Kyrgyz team will fight for exit from group “F” with Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Oman.
It is worth noting that the Turkmenistan team failed to qualify for the tournament. Under the leadership of Yazkuli Hojageldiyev, Turkmen football players took the penultimate place in the qualifying group “E”, losing their spots to Bahrain and Malaysia.