Defending champions Iraq will be looking to build on their fine performance in the 2007 edition with a smattering of good, young players. Though the Iraqis are not among the favorites to lift the cup on January 29th, they weren't in 2007 either and their victory over Saudi Arabia has gone down as one of the major upsets in international competition.

Iraq lifted the trophy last time in amazing circumstances, but they will need to perform even better to hold off the continents big guns this year. [CRI]

The beauty of the Asian Cup is that you can expect the unexpected. Few people expected Iraq to lift the cup four years ago and with that in mind, it is unlike any of the other continental international championships in that so many teams are capable of winning.

Somewhat inevitably, Japan and Australia are the favorites for the tournament which is being hosted in Qatar.

Aside from the favorites, there’s three-time winners Saudi Arabia; South Korea, who bizarrely haven’t won the Asian Cup since 1960 but have successfully qualified for the last seven World Cups; and North Korea. Each of whom have World Cup pedigree. Additionally there’s Iran who have won the Asian Cup three times. And if we look even further there’s the hosts Qatar and China who could emerge as dark horses and will be high on confidence after some impressive results in warm-up games leading up to the tournament.

The January conditions in Qatar are said to be comfortable and Qatar will be hoping to put on a good show in order to win over some of those that doubt their ability to host a major football tournament.