With the ambition of achieving a new achievement.. The Emirati Whites start the Asian Cup against Hong Kong

Today, the Emirati Whites begin their Asian Cup campaign, as Khalifa International Stadium hosts their first match in the tournament against Hong Kong, as part of the first round of the third group of the tournament, which is hosted by Doha from January 12 to February 10, which includes, in addition to Palestine and Iran.

The Emirati White aspires to achieve victory at the beginning of its matches, to be a good boost before its next two matches against Palestine on the 18th of January, then Iran on the 23rd of the same month, especially since the White qualified during the last two editions of the Asian Cup to the semi-finals, where it lost before the 2015 final against Australia also lost before the 2019 final at home, 4-0, to the future champion, the Qatari team.

UAE team enters the tournament relying on its star players, and its Portuguese coach, Paulo Bento, who has great experience, as he led Portugal in the 2012 European Nations and the 2014 World Cup, and also led the South Korean national team in the Asian Cup during the last two editions and the World Cup.

While the Whites’ competitor, the Hong Kong national team, is participating in the tournament for the first time since 1968, and it played 3 friendlies in preparation for the tournament, beating China 2/1, before losing to Tajikistan 1/2, and Saudi Arabia 0/2, while the Whites lost their last friendly match against his Omani opponent with a clean goal.

The Hong Kong national team relies on the experience of its promotional coach, Jörn Anderson, who previously coached Mainz in Germany, and was assistant coach of Borussia Mönchengladbach. He also coached North Korea in 2016, the South Korean club Incheon in 2018, and then the Hong Kong national team, which he has been leading for 3 years. During which it qualified for the Asian Cup for the fourth time in its history.