Oman vs Thailand January 20 (Sunday) 22:30
In the second round of Group F of the Asian Cup group stage, Oman played against Thailand. This match is about the qualification situation of both teams, if the Thai team wins the game, they will accumulate six points to lock in the qualification in advance, while Oman will basically miss the direct qualification if they lose the game.
Oman put in a good first round against Saudi Arabia, the world's highest-ranked team in the group, and at one point took the lead with a penalty kick, but were beaten by a dramatic stoppage-time winner who lost the game. Thailand, on the other hand, were passive against a higher-ranked Kyrgyzstan team, but had as many as eight great chances, and the final score could have been more disparity than 2-0 had it not been for a slight lack of ability to take advantage of them.
Thai striker Subachai scored a brace in the last round, and although he has since retired due to injury, he seems to be well injured in the joint training session, and his nose in front of goal is something that Oman need to watch out for, while Thailand need to avoid getting caught up in hand-to-hand combat, which their opponents are relatively good at, and go into this game at their own pace. The direct dialogue between the two teams with different styles in Southeast Asia and West Asia is bound to be quite interesting.
Kyrgyzstan vs Saudi Arabia January 21 (Monday) 1:30
In the final match of the second round of the group stage of the Asian Cup, Kyrgyzstan played Saudi Arabia. This game is also an opportunity for the Saudi Arabian team to qualify in advance, and it is undoubtedly a life-and-death battle for Kyrgyzstan.
In the first round of the matchup, Kyrgyzstan's defence allowed Thailand to find too many good chances to score, and despite the relative dominance, they were beaten 2-0. In the face of the stronger Saudi Arabian team in this game, the Kyrgyzstan team may be passive throughout the game, and whether it can organize a good defense line to deal with the impact of the opponent will affect the overall trend of the game.
Saudi Arabia trailed Oman for a long time in the first round, and substitute Riyadh Victory star Gharib became the key to changing the game. The Demoman tore through Oman's defence with a spectacular solo strike to score the equaliser. In stoppage time, Blaich scored the winner from a corner kick to secure three points for Saudi Arabia. In this game, whether Mancini will let Gharib, who has excellent assault ability, start the game, will affect the trend of the game to a certain extent.