Indian men's football team to play Iraq in King's Cup 2023 semifinal
text_fields
New Delhi: The King's Cup 2023 semifinal matchup between the Indian senior men's football team and Iraq has been determined following the draw ceremony held by the Football Association of Thailand on Wednesday.
On September 7, the game will be held at the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Later on the same day, Thailand and Lebanon will square off in the second semifinal.
The winners of the 49th King's Cup semifinals will contest the final on September 10. The losers will meet in the third-place play-off.
As per the draw mechanics, Iraq (as the highest FIFA-ranked team - 70th) and Thailand (as hosts and ranked 113th) were placed in separate match-ups, and drawn against the remaining two teams -- India, ranked 99th, and Lebanon, ranked 100th.
India's last meeting with Iraq was a 0-2 defeat in a friendly in Baghdad in 2010.
It will be India's fourth participation in the King's Cup in Thailand, with the most recent one coming in 2019, where the Blue Tigers went down to Curacao in the semi-final before beating hosts Thailand 1-0 for the bronze medal.
India also won bronze in their first appearance in the tournament in 1977, defeating the likes of South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia. In 1981, India were eliminated in the group stage
With inputs from IANS