The national soccer team left for Indonesia on Friday to play for the Asian Cup opening the next day.

The 23-member team will play three preliminary matches in the competition in Jakarta.

The team belongs to Group D with three-time winner Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and co-host Indonesia.

Before leaving for Jakarta on Friday, forward Cho Jae-jin expressed confidence over the team’s first match against Saudi Arabia slated for Wednesday. Cho fired two goals in Thursday's final friendly match against Uzbekistan ahead of the Asian Cup.