Perhaps the biggest games of the Asia Cup will be in Group D, where, in a few hours, Iraq and Iran- true fierce rivals- are set to face each other, followed by the North Koreans taking on UAE.
Iraq and North Korea will also be facing quite a few questions from the AFC, as they didn’t send their players to the pre-match press conferences, while Jo Tong-Sop, manager of North Korea, was forced to change his statements by his translator when media
personnel asked some contentious questions about his home country. The North Korean manager also informed that Jong Tae-Se, the team's star striker, will be fit to play against UAE as he has now recovered from his knee injury.
Srecko Katanec, the manager of UAE, has played down his young side's chances of causing an upset against a North Korean, as the side has a lot of experience when it comes to playing in a major tournament. He further asserted that his team was in a tough
group that has the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ismail-Matar-c17124 in their attacking ranks, the team did promise a well fought battle
nomatter what the outcome.
In the other game of the ‘Group of Death', Iran, lead by Afshin Ghotbi, will face reigning champions, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Iraq-c2924, and will have to win back their fans considering their mediocre performance throughout the qualifying phases of the campaign. Iran are still considered
the favorites in this tournament as they have a strong history in the Asia Cup tournament and much will depend on the Osasuna duo of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Masoud-Shojaei-c24565.
Wolfgang Sidka, manager of the Iraqis, has been quick to distance his team and himself from the suggestions that Iraq has to repeat the feats of 2007, when they beat http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Saudi-Arabia-c3000 and stunned the whole world by lifting the trophy.
The Iraq-Iran game is bound to be a great Asian Derby and a lot of action can be expected from both sides.
Iraq will be looking towards their captain, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nashat-Akram-c27342, Iraq may stage a historic win as they start their mission of retaining the Asian Cup.
According to predictions of experts, both teams have a pretty balanced squad and it will be a tightly contested battle, focused mostly on the midfield, and it would be hard for both sides to get clear-cut goalscoring chances.
North Korea are expected to beat UAE and have a great chance of doing so after it was revealed that their star striker, Jong-Tae Se, had returned to full fitness. But the match won’t be an easy ride for the Koreans as UAE have a good side that, despite being
relatively inexperienced, has enough about them to potentially stage an upset. It is still to be seen, though, that which Korean side will the world see in the Asian Cup this time- the one that almost held http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Brazil-c2858 to a draw, or the one that was punished by
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/South-Africa-c757.
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