{"id":50391,"date":"2024-01-13T09:26:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-13T17:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=50391"},"modified":"2024-01-13T09:26:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T17:26:10","slug":"iran-look-to-end-afc-asian-cup-47-year-title-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2024\/01\/13\/iran-look-to-end-afc-asian-cup-47-year-title-drought\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran look to end AFC Asian Cup 47-year title drought"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tehran Times &#8211; KUALA LUMPUR, <strong>The eighteenth edition of the AFC Asian Cup officially kicked off in Doha on Friday. Iran national football team are looking to bring an end to 47-year title drought.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Due to the impact of the coronavirus, China withdrew as host country for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, which now takes place in Qatar in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Defending champions Qatar kicked off their tournament with a convincing triumph over Lebanon, signaling a strong start for both the team and their fans, Farokh Hasabi, Tehran Times correspondent, reported from Qatar.<\/p>\n<p>Amir Ghalenoei will lead Iran&#8217;s national team in their first match against Palestine in Group C at Education City Stadium on Sunday, the third day of the tournament. Iran come into this match with a record of 11 wins and two draws in the 13 games coached by Ghalenoei. Team Melli defeated Indonesia 5-0 in their recent friendly match, paving the way for their first official match against Palestine.<\/p>\n<p>While Qatar successfully hosted the FIFA World Cup in 2022, it&#8217;s evident that the 2023 Asian Cup falls short in terms of excitement, fan engagement, and overall ambiance when compared to the global football spectacle.<\/p>\n<p>The smaller number of teams and less captivating matches in the group stages have contributed to a less heated start to the competition. For those who experienced the FIFA World Cup in Qatar a year ago, the AFC Asian Cup, and its comparison to the global event, feels different. Doha currently lacks the frenzy witnessed during the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Iran, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia are among the favorites to win the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Paulo Bento, head coach of the UAE national team, acknowledges the strength of Iran and praises their skilled and formidable players.<\/p>\n<p>While many teams recognize Iran&#8217;s strength, the question remains whether Iranian football can fulfill its 47-year quest for an AFC Asian Cup title under Amir Ghalenoei&#8217;s leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tehran Times &#8211; KUALA LUMPUR, The eighteenth edition of the AFC Asian Cup officially kicked&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26307,"featured_media":50392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,175,84,92,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c17-asian-competitions","category-asian-cup","category-c47-featured-news","category-c21-international-football-news","category-c13-team-melli-news"],"views":644,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50393,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50391\/revisions\/50393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}