The Australia U23s are set to find out their opponents for this year’s AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022™.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of Thursday night’s draw for the tournament which will play out in Uzbekistan from June 1-19, 2022.
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How did we qualify?
Australia secured its spot at the AFC U23 Asian Cup via Group G in October 2021.
Following the withdrawal of China and Brunei, the side coached on an interim basis by Trevor Morgan faced a two-legged tie with Indonesia, played on neutral ground in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
A young squad secured advancement comfortable fashion with a 4-2 aggregate victory.
Patrick Wood scored a goal in each leg, while Mark Tokich headed home and Jacob Italiano powered home a screamer to get the job done for Australia.
How to watch Thursday's draw
You can watch Thursday's draw live on the Socceroos Facebook page, My Football YouTube channel, or right here on Socceroos.com.au.
Proceedings in Tashkent commence at 12pm local time (6pm AEDT).
Who could we face?
Due to our memorable third-placed finish at the AFC U-23 Championship Thailand 2020™ - which secured the nation Olympic Men’s Football qualification for the first time since 2008 - Australia will be one of the top-seeded sides in Thursday’s draw.
The 16 nations involved will be divided into four groups of four.
Each team in the group will play each other once, with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the Quarter Finals.
Being placed in Pot 1, Australia will come up against one member of Pots 2, 3 & 4 respectively.
The pot allocations are as follows:
Pot 1: Uzbekistan (Host), Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, Australia
Pot 2: Jordan, Thailand, UAE, IR Iran
Pot 3: Iraq, Qatar, Vietnam, Japan
Pot 4: Tajikistan, Malaysia, Kuwait, Turkmenistan