Arab teams eye path to AFC Asian Cup and Africa Cup of Nations in 2023

There has been so much attention on the road to Qatar that it has almost gone unnoticed that plenty of Arab teams have just started qualification rounds for two major continental tournaments in 2023 — the Asian Cup and the African Cup of Nations. At least we know that Ivory Coast will be the venue for the latter but with China’s recent withdrawal as host in Asia, it remains to be seen where this particular road will end.

One thing for sure is that there is going to be plenty of action coming in Asia as all six groups will start Wednesday and finish next Tuesday. The 12 teams that reached the final round of qualification for the 2022 World Cup have already secured their continental places along with defending champions Qatar. That leaves 11 spaces remaining, which means that the six group winners will be joined by the five best runners-up. One team is going to be very disappointed indeed.

That emotion should not apply to Jordan or Kuwait, the host of Group A. Even without the advantage of playing in their own backyard, the two West Asian nations should be too strong for Indonesia, now coached by Shin Tae-yong who was in charge of South Korea at the 2018 World Cup, and also Nepal, even though the South Asians are still led by Kuwaiti tactician Abdullah Al-Mutairi. Jordan especially have ambitions not just to qualify for Asian cups but to progress to the knockout stages.

There will be more interest and unpredictability in Group B. Yemen and Palestine both qualified for the 2019 tournament and both have plenty of obstacles in trying to compete with mid-ranking continental rivals. The security situation in Yemen in recent years has meant that there has been little domestic football and players have either had to move