2019 Asian Cup Group A: Teams, fixtures and key players

Fifa world ranking: 79 Ranking in Asia: 8 Previous Asian Cups: 9 Best performance: Runners-up (1996) 2015 Asian Cup: Third place Nickname: The Whites Manager: Alberto Zaccheroni Captain: Majed Naser Player to watch: Ahmed Khalil Fixtures: January 5 v Bahrain (Abu Dhabi); January 10 v India (Abu Dhabi); January 14 v Thailand (Al Ain) Alberto Zaccheroni knows what it takes to win an Asian Cup but if he is to succeed with the UAE as he did with Japan in 2011, the Italian will have to do it without one of the host nation's outstanding talent. Omar Abdulrahman's delightful touch helped drive his country to third place in Australia four years ago but a knee injury sustained playing club football means the playmaker will be sidelined for the tournament. Zaccheroni, though, has always been known for his tactical creativity - he had Japan playing a 4-2-3-1 formation in 2011 - and any squad led by the former AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus manager can be relied upon to play attacking football. Fifa world ranking: 113 Ranking in Asia: 20 Previous Asian Cups: 5 Best performance: Fourth place (2004) 2015 Asian Cup: Group stage Nickname: The Red Manager: Miroslav Soukup Captain: Sayed Mohamed Jaffer Player to watch: Ali Madan Fixtures: January 5 v UAE (Abu Dhabi); January 10 v Thailand (Dubai); January 14 v India (Sharjah) Bahrain are appearing at a fifth consecutive Asian Cup but Miroslav Soukup's side will be hard pushed to emulate the achievements of their more illustrious predecessors despite their relatively straight forward progress to the finals. The country reached the semi-finals in 2004 before narrowly missing out on qualifying for the World Cup finals in both 2006 and 2010. The talent in the current squad falls short of those levels, however, and Bahrain are unlikely to be among the challengers at the business end of the tournament. _____________ Read more on 2019 Asian Cup: 2019 Asian Cup: Groups, teams, tickets and all you need to know Bernd Stange counting on Syria fans to carry team through 2019 Asian Cup group phase Jan Kocian wants Yemen to dream of big victories at 2019 Asian Cup Aref Al Awani: Legacy for UAE football will come from Asian Cup Celtic asked that he be rested: Arnold on why Rogic did not play for Australia against Oman Sven-Goran Eriksson's New Year wish to grow interest in football in Philippines In pictures: Australia thrash Oman 5-0 in Dubai friendly ahead of 2019 Asian Cup _____________ Fifa world ranking: 118 Ranking in Asia: 22 Previous Asian Cups: 6 Best performance: Third place (1972) 2015 Asian Cup: Did not qualify Nickname: War Elephants Manager: Milovan Rajevac Captain: Kawin Thamsatchanan Player to watch: Chanathip Songkrasin Fixtures: January 6 v India (Dubai); January 10 v Bahrain (Abu Dhabi); January 14 v UAE (Dubai) Milovan Rajevac takes Thailand to their first Asian Cup finals in more than a decade hoping to change results for a country whose passion for football has long outstripped their performance at continental level. Thailand have dominated the game in Southeast Asia since they last appeared at the Asian Cup in 2007, winning the regional championship twice only to continue to fall short of climbing onto the continent's upper tier. While they have been unable to challenge leading nations such as Japan and South Korea, Rajevac is confident his team can make their mark in the UAE. Fifa world ranking: 97 Ranking in Asia: 15 Previous Asian Cups: 3 Best performance: Runners-up (1964) 2015 Asian Cup: Did not qualify Nickname: Blue Tigers Manager: Stephen Constantine Captain: Sunil Chhetri Player to watch: Udanta Singh Fixtures: January 6 v Thailand (Abu Dhabi); January 10 v UAE (Abu Dhabi); January 14 v Bahrain (Sharjah) India are hoping to use their Asian Cup participation as a building block to realise their 2026 World Cup qualification dream but doubts linger over their preparation as they return to next month's continental showpiece in the UAE. Cricket-loving India has a population of 1.3 billion but is a massive underachiever as far as football is concerned. India's fourth participation in the Asian Cup should be looked as a precursor to their goal of achieving a berth in the World Cup for the first time by 2026, according to All India Football Federation president Praful Patel. ______________ More on Asian Cup: Football fans attending AGL games to get tickets to 2019 Asian Cup matches In pictures: Syria's footballers get big reception in Sharjah ahead of Asian Cup Al Ain's Fifa Club World Cup success can be inspiration for UAE at Asian Cup Asian Cup arrives in the UAE: Emirates flies trophy from Japan to Dubai Lowdown on 2019 Asian Cup being hosted by UAE in January-February Omar Abdulrahman injury hits UAE hard and deprives event of a star

2019 Asian Cup Group A: Teams, fixtures and key players

A breakdown of the teams in Group A – Bahrain, Thailand, India and hosts UAE – and what we can expect from each at the January 5-February 1 tournament