Soccer Football - World Cup - Asian Qualifiers - Group B - Saudi Arabia v Australia - King Abdullah Sport City Stadium, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - March 29, 2022 Australia players line up before the match REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri/File Photo
(Reuters) - Statbox on Group B at the Asian Cup, which will be held in Qatar from Jan. 12 to Feb. 10:
AUSTRALIA
FIFA Ranking: 25
Best finish: Champions (2015)
Coach: Graham Arnold
Prospects: Australia's stunning 2022 World Cup campaign, where they ran eventual champions Argentina close in the last 16, has encouraged hopes that the 2015 champions and 2011 runners-up will be around at the business end of the tournament.
Arnold has plenty of new faces in his squad but they know the conditions in Doha well and he will hope the togetherness and fighting spirit behind their success at the World Cup have survived the personnel changes.
UZBEKISTAN
FIFA Ranking: 68
Best finish: Semi-finals (2011)
Coach: Srecko Katanec (Slovenia)
Prospects: Uzbekistan have at least got out of their group at the last five editions of the Asian Cup and earned plenty of admirers over the years for their neat, technical passing game.
Their chances of going deep in Qatar suffered a huge blow when Italy-based top scorer and captain Eldor Shomurodov was ruled out of the tournament with a leg injury.
SYRIA
FIFA Ranking: 91
Best finish: Group stage (1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2011, 2019)
Coach: Hector Cuper (Argentina)
Prospects: Former Valencia and Inter coach Cuper was brought on board last year but has struggled to put out a side that can compete with Asia's heavyweights.
A 5-0 humbling at the hands of Japan in a World Cup qualifier in Jeddah in November suggests that Syria will do well to get out of a tough group and into the knockout stages for the first time.
INDIA
FIFA Ranking: 102
Best finish: Runners up (1964)
Coach: Igor Stimac (Croatia)
Prospects: India have failed to progress past the group stage in their last three attempts and as the lowest-ranked side in the group, their prospects of bucking that trend this time around appear bleak.
However, their record-extending victory in last year's South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship and their recent 1-0 win over Kuwait in a World Cup qualifier will give Stimac's side cause to believe.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney and Aadi Nair, editing by Peter Rutherford)
