AFC Asian Cup 2023: Minnows Putting Up A Fight Against Traditional Giants

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The AFC Asian Cup 2023 first matchday of the group stage has ended. The Asian giants who are favourites in this competition, have come out with wins. However, as it has been seen, the wins have not come easy for them.

Underdog teams like India, Hongkong, Vietnam, Indonesia, and more have shown their amazing fighting spirit. With the first matchweek set to end soon, all these teams still have good chances of qualifying for the knockout stages.

India, sitting in the 102st place in the FIFA rankings, took on Australia in their first match. The Socceroos who are sitting 77 places above India had their work cut out. Australia got multiple attacking chances including several corners and set-pieces.

Even so, they won the match by a 0-2 margin. Australia didn't win the match only because India put up a good fight. The same can be said for Hong Kong’s match against the United Arab Emirates. They held on for more than half an hour into the match when they made a mistake and conceded a penalty. UAE took the lead with the penalty. Hong Kong equalised quickly after the second half started. However, they couldn't hold on for long.

Hong Kong ultimately lost 3-1 to UAE after conceding another penalty in the dying minutes. Similarly, underdogs Indonesia nullified Iraq’s early lead in their first game. Even though Indonesia lost 1-3 at the end, their fight will still be remembered.

Finally, Vietnam definitely shocked the world the most when they went 2-1 up against Japan in the 33rd minute of the game. Japan had to work hard to make a comeback against the underdogs. At the end of the 90 minutes, Japan got away with a 4-2 win.

All these teams may have lost their first games. However, their performances clearly indicate that they can turn it around in their next 2 matches. Hence, they could even end up among the top 2 teams at the end of the group stage.