And the action on the pitch has been delivering the goods, too, with exciting matches and great goals ensuring the five-year wait for the continental competition to return has been well worth it.<\/p>\n
A glimpse behind the scenes, post-match thoughts, training ground routines and a birthday boy all feature as the-AFC.com takes a look at the social media channels of those involved.<\/p>\n
Qatar \u2013 Hard work pays off
\nBefore the Qatari national team took to the pitch to register their opening-day win, it was time for one of the most spectacular opening ceremonies in AFC Asian Cup history to unfold in front of us.<\/p>\n
The organisers gave us a peek into the backstage with more than 100 artists and a crew consisting of more than 700 members rehearsing for the last two months to deliver a wonderful show that lasted around 30 minutes. A truly incredible way to get the 18th edition of the prestigious competition underway!<\/p>\n
Australia \u2013 Bos-ing it on the pitch
\nHighly rated Socceroos left-back Jordan Bos came off the bench to score with his first touch in their Group B opener against India, with the 21-year-old claiming that, \u201cI was just jogging on and wasn\u2019t set into the game yet and all of a sudden the ball just fell to me in the box\u201d.<\/p>\n
It was the youngster\u2019s maiden international goal and one that helped Australia take a two-goal lead and confirm the three points as the 2015 champions got off to a perfect start.<\/p>\n
India \u2013 Tangri\u2019s Baptism of Fire
\nOn the other hand, Igor Stimac handed a senior national team debut to Deepak Tangri with the defensive midfielder tasked with a daunting challenge to contain Australia in his introduction to international football, and he certainly did his job well!<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old made 13 ball recoveries, six interceptions and won seven duels in a performance that earned Tangri plenty of plaudits back home and abroad. The fighting attitude will hold the Blue Tigers in good stead ahead of upcoming matches against Uzbekistan and Syria.<\/p>\n
Japan \u2013 Three points delight red-hot Minamino
\nJapan saw off a first-half Vietnam fightback to register a 4-2 victory, with Takumi Minamino orchestrating the result with two goals and an assist in the absence of the influential Kaoru Mitoma.<\/p>\n
Hajime Moriyasu\u2019s men have now won 11 consecutive matches, scoring an incredible 49 goals during this period as they set their eyes on claiming a record-extending fifth continental crown in Qatar.<\/p>\n
Korea Republic \u2013 Behind the lens with Lee Kang-in
\nKorea Republic are another side that harbour title aspirations this term, with their talented winger Lee Kang-in showing his photography skills in the Taegeuk Warriors\u2019 training session.<\/p>\n
Jurgen Klinsmann\u2019s side began their campaign on Monday, with Lee scoring twice in a 3-1 win against Bahrain at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Al Rayyan.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia \u2013 Green Falcons in jovial mood
\nSalem Al Dawsari & co. were having fun in training, taking part in a series of activities to improve team bonding and coordination under the supervision of Roberto Mancini.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia, bidding for a fourth continental title, began their Group F journey with a stunning come-from-behind 2-1 win against Oman on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Indonesia \u2013 Team Garuda\u2019s birthday celebration
\nIndonesia also began their AFC Asian Cup campaign this week with the squad and staff members celebrating young midfielder Ivar Jenner\u2019s 20th birthday at the team hotel.<\/p>\n
Head coach Shin Tae-yong presented Jenner with a cake as the players were all smiles ahead of their return to the continental stage for the first time since 2007.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
And the action on the pitch has been delivering the goods, too, with exciting matches and great goals ensuring the five-year wait for the continental competition to return has been well worth it. A glimpse behind the scenes, post-match thoughts, training ground routines and a birthday boy all feature as the-AFC.com takes a look at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":929663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20966],"tags":[9648,27192],"class_list":["post-929662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fifa-news","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=929662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/929663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=929662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=929662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=929662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}