Group E of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup will take place from 15 to 25 January 2024.[1] The group consists of South Korea, Malaysia, Jordan and Bahrain.[2]
Teams
| Draw position | Team | Zone | Method of qualification |
Date of qualification |
Finals appearance |
Last appearance |
Previous best performance |
FIFA Rankings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2023[nb 1] | December 2023 | ||||||||
| E1 |  South Korea | EAFF | Second round Group H winners | 9 June 2021 | 15th | 2019 | Winners (1956, 1960) | 27 | 23 |
| E2 |  Malaysia | AFF | Third round Group E runners-up | 14 June 2022 | 4th | 2007 | Group stage (1976, 1980, 2007) | 138 | 130 |
| E3 |  Jordan | WAFF | Third round Group A winners | 14 June 2022 | 5th | 2019 | Quarter-finals (2004, 2011) | 84 | 87 |
| E4 |  Bahrain | WAFF | Third round Group E winners | 14 June 2022 | 7th | 2019 | Fourth place (2004) | 85 | 86 |
Notes
- ↑ The rankings of April 2023 were used for seeding for the final draw.
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordan |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | South Korea |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | +2 | 3 | |
| 3 | Bahrain |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 0 | Possible knockout stage |
| 4 | Malaysia |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | −4 | 0 |
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Matches
South Korea vs Bahrain
This was the fourth time South Korea to face Bahrain in a competitive AFC Asian Cup fixture. Their most recent encounter happened in 2019, where South Korea claimed a hard-fought 2–1 win; all three previous Asian Cup encounters ended by the same scoreline, with Bahrain claimed one win while South Korea won two others.
The match started with great difficulties for the South Koreans due to Bahrain's aggressive efforts, which saw South Korea received three yellow cards. However, South Korea managed to regroup and re-applied pressure against Bahrain. In the 38th minute, following a foul from Ali Madan, Park Yong-woo quickly provided a long-range pass to Lee Jae-sung before he gave a low pass toward Hwang In-beom, who then struck Bahrain's net despite frantic efforts by Bahraini defenders. In the second half, Bahrain surprisingly gave a quick response in the 51st minute, a brilliant high pass from Madan gave the ball to Mohamed Marhoon, whose shot got deflected by Jung Seung-hyun to Abdullah Al-Hashash, as he didn't miss the opportunity to equalise. Five minutes later, attempt to clear the ball from defender Mohamed Adel resulted in the ball was instead given to Kim Min-jae, who then sent the ball to Lee Kang-in before Lee himself delivered a thunderous shot to restore South Korea's lead. Lee then finished the game in the 68th minute when Mohamed Al-Hardan mishandled the ball to Son Heung-min, who then passed to Hwang In-beom before Hwang sent it to Lee Kang-in, who then gave a clinical finish to the bottom right corner of Ebrahim Lutfalla.
This was the first time South Korea managed to defeat Bahrain with more than one-goal margin, with all three previous meetings all ended with one-goal difference.
| South Korea | 3–1 | Bahrain |
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Report |
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Malaysia vs Jordan
This will be the first time Malaysia to face Jordan in a competitive AFC Asian Cup finals. Their latest competitive meeting was at the 1988 AFC Asian Cup qualification, where Malaysia and Jordan were held to a goalless draw. Jordan have been undefeated to Malaysia nor even conceded a goal.
     Malaysia
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    Jordan
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Jordan vs South Korea
This will be the second Asian Cup finals encounter between Jordan and South Korea; their only Asian Cup meeting was in 2004 where Jordan shocked South Korea with a goalless draw. The last time the two met each other in any competitive fixtures occurred during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, which South Korea gained first-ever win over Jordan 1–0 away; despite this, South Korea remains undefeated to Jordan with three wins and two draws.
| Jordan | Match 21 | South Korea |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Bahrain vs Malaysia
Bahrain and Malaysia will meet each other shortly after their recent meeting during the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification. Malaysia won just two in 12 previous meetings, but Bahrain dominated in all competitive fixtures with an undefeated record, including the most recent 2–1 win in the same Asian Cup qualification.
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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South Korea vs Malaysia
South Korea will face Malaysia for the first time in 35 years since their last meetings during the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification, which South Korea won 3–0 each. In term of Asian Cup finals encounter however, Malaysia held South Korea to a 1–1 draw back in 1980.
| South Korea | Match 33 | Malaysia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Jordan vs Bahrain
This will be the two's first competitive encounter since the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, where both teams gained a win each. The two teams' most recent meeting was in a friendly in 2021, where Jordan won 2–1. This will also be the first Asian Cup meetings between the two in the history.
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Man of the Match:
Assistant referees:
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Discipline
Fair play points would have been used as tiebreakers if the overall and head-to-head records of teams were tied. These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows:
- first yellow card: −1 point;
- indirect red card (second yellow card): −3 points;
- direct red card: −3 points;
- yellow card and direct red card: −4 points;
Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player in a single match.
| Team | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Points | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| South Korea |
5 | –5 | |||||||||||
| Malaysia |
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| Jordan |
1 | –1 | |||||||||||
| Bahrain |
2 | –2 | |||||||||||
References
- ↑ ""Match Schedule – AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023"" (PDF). the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. 11 May 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
- ↑ "#AsianCup2023 Groups Finalised". the-AFC. Retrieved 11 May 2023.