0-0! The first game of the Asian Cup was an upset! The national football team was defeated and drew 4th in Asia, and the Chinese team tried to qualify
In the expectation of countless fans, the curtain of the U23 Asian Cup officially opened. However, no one expected that there would be an upset in the first game, and the Australian team, the favorite to win the championship, overturned with one more player!
This year's U23 Asian Cup is about the quota for the Olympic Games, so the 16 participating teams are riveting their efforts to get the top three places in the event and go straight to the Paris Olympics. In the first game, the Australian team, one of the favorites to win the championship, welcomed the West Asian powerhouse Jordan. In the latest FIFA rankings, Australia is ranked 24th, the fourth highest in Asia, and can be said to be the best team in Asia.
Jordan, on the other hand, is only ranked 71st, 10th in Asia, and there is undoubtedly a big gap between the two teams just by looking at the world rankings. A week ago, the Chinese U23 men's football team also played against the Jordan team, and in that warm-up match, the Chinese team finally defeated the Jordan team 1-0, and won a rare three consecutive warm-up matches. However, it was the defeat of this national football team that made the Australians suffer.
Due to the disadvantage on paper, the Jordan team took the initiative to give up possession and pragmatically played a defensive counterattack. In the face of the opponent's iron bucket formation, the Australian team also seemed to have few ways, the whole game, they did not create too good scoring opportunities at all, but the Jordanian team's counterattack repeatedly created killing opportunities, if it were not for the Australian goalkeeper Beach made wonderful saves one after another, perhaps the deadlock of the game was broken early on.
In the second half, Jordan scored a goal, but it was ruled out for offside. In the final moments of the game, one of their defenders was sent off for a second yellow card, but despite this, the Australian team still failed to take advantage of the opportunity, and the final goalless Australian team drew 0-0 with Jordan, only a draw in the first game, and the situation of qualifying from the group was also cast a thick shadow.
In the near future, the Chinese men's football team will also make its debut, and our opponent in the first round is the favorite Japan. The only time we met in the U23 Asian Cup was in the qualifiers for the 2018 U23 Asian Cup, when China beat Japan 2-1 to top their group.
If the Chinese team can beat the Japanese team for the second time, then we will most likely be able to break through from the group stage and enter the knockout round of the U23 Asian Cup for the first time in team history. I hope that this time, the Chinese men's football team can create a miracle and inject a shot of strength into Chinese football in the trough!