(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha: Qatar will have their hands full in Group B of the AFC U-23 Championship Thailand 2020 as they face challenge in the form of Japan, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
The Group B contenders will kick off their campaigns in Bangkok tomorrow.
The top two sides in Group B will qualify for the quarter-finals, while the tournament's top three finishers will earn places at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Qatar will be looking to go at least one step further at Thailand 2020 than they have in previous involvements in the competition as the West Asian side seek to overcome their inability to advance beyond the semi-finals.
Qatar reached the last four in both 2016 and 2018, only to fall short of reaching the final on both occasions, with the added heartbreak of a loss in the third-place play-off on home soil four years ago seeing them miss out on a place at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Qatar coach Felix Sanchez helms the side as he did in the last two editions of the tournament and he will be hoping he can have a second successful January in a row after steering the senior squad to the AFC Asian Cup title in UAE last year.
Japan won the AFC U23 Championship the last time it served as the Continent's final qualifier for the Olympic Games as they fought back to defeat fellow East Asians Korea Republic in the final in Qatar in 2016.
Under the charge of senior national team boss Hajime Moriyasu, Japan come into the tournament building towards Tokyo's hosting of the 2020 Olympics, which means the Japanese have already secured their ticket for the summer's Finals.
But with a squad that features several players who won the AFC U19 Championship in Bahrain in 2016 and claimed the silver medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018, Moriyasu's side will be a major challenger for the title once again.
Saudi Arabia have never won the AFC U23 Championship and have failed to qualify for the Finals of the Olympic Games since 1996, head coach Saad Al Shehri will fancy their chances of bringing that drought to an end.
The country has undergone a resurgence at youth level in recent years, with the Saudis reaching the final of the AFC U19 Championship in Bahrain in 2016 where they lost to Japan before capturing the title two years later in Indonesia.
Those two squads will provide Saudi Arabia with the basis upon which to build a side capable OF making a serious run for the AFC U23 Championship title as the country hopes to erase the pain of defeat in the final in 2013.
Syria's record at the AFC U23 Championship is the weakest among the nations represented in Group B, the tournament has proven to be a launchpad for the careers of stars such as former AFC Player of the Year Omar KhrIbin and national team stalwarts Omar Midani and Mahmoud Al Mawas.
Ayman Hakeem, who steered the senior side to the brink of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Finals, is at the helm of the team and he will be looking to cause an upset or two as the Syrians attempt to qualify for the knockout rounds of the competition for only the second time. Syria were eliminated from the tournament at the last eight stage during the inaugural edition in Oman in 2013 and since then were knocked out in the group phase in 2016 and 2018.
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