The new U20 Asian Cup, which is being held in Uzbekistan, will enter its sixth matchday, and the Chinese men's football team will face the defending champion Saudi Arabia, which is a real life and death battle, if it loses, it will face the fate of early exit, and will miss the World Youth Championship for 18 consecutive years. In the latest situation, the host country Uzbekistan has become the first team to advance to the last eight, Syria, Qatar and Oman have accumulated 0 points and there is a glimmer of hope to qualify.
Compared with the 24 teams of the senior Asian Cup, the U20 Asian Cup continues the scale of 16 teams, 4 teams in each group of 4 teams, the top two advance to the top 8, the AFC stipulates that the top four teams represent the Asian zone in the 2023 World Youth Championship, let's take a look at the latest situation of the U20 Asian Cup:
Group A: Host Uzbekistan beat Syria 2-0 in the first round, defeated Iraq 1-0 in the second round, 2 consecutive wins with 6 points ranked first, because Iraq and Indonesia (both teams have 3 points) directly in the last round, there must be another team can not surpass the host in points, so Uzbekistan qualified one round ahead of schedule, becoming the first team in the top 8 of this tournament, Iraq can qualify if it draws and Indonesia must win, Syria defeats Iraq by a big score. You also have to hope that Indonesia loses to Uzbekistan.
Group B: Regarded as the group of death, Vietnam stood out, the first round 2-1 overturned Australia, the second round 2-1 defeated Qatar, 2 consecutive wins and 6 points to hold the first place, the last round as long as the draw can qualify, Australia and Iran win at the same time, who has the most goals, Qatar defeated Australia by a big margin, but also have to hope that Vietnam defeated Iran to advance.
Group C: South Korea as the favourites, 4-0 in the first round to beat Oman, 2-0 in the second round to Jordan, like Vietnam's qualifying situation, the final round of draw can advance to the last eight, Jordan and Tajikistan have 3 points, the final round opponents are different, Jordan has more hope of promotion, Oman is too far behind on goal difference and is on the verge of elimination.
Group D: The Chinese men's football team's previous signing is not good, and the defending champion Saudi Arabia and the traditional strong opponent Japan in the same group, after the first round was reversed by Japan 1-2, the Chinese men's football team played Saudi Arabia in the second round, the strength gap is more obvious, the probability is still losing, while Japan has a high probability of winning Kyrgyzstan, joining hands with Saudi Arabia to qualify in advance, the Chinese men's football team will be out early, only a draw with Saudi Arabia can retain the hope of promotion.
The last time the Chinese men's football team participated in the World Youth Championship was in 2005, and since then it has been absent continuously, and this time it is difficult to even qualify from the group, let alone break into the semifinals of the U20 Asian Cup.