In the early morning of April 17, Beijing time, in the first round of Group B of the U23 Asian Cup, the Iraqi National Olympic Games played against the Thai National Olympic Games. In the end, Iraq broke out a big upset, losing to Thailand with a score of 0-2, suffering a black start, and it was also the first time in the team's history that the team lost to this Southeast Asian team.
A total of 16 teams will compete in the tournament, with the top three teams qualified for Paris 2024 and the fourth-place finishers competing for one quota place in the African zone, Guinea.
As the champion of the 2013 tournament, Iraq only advanced to the quarterfinals last time, and the results were not outstanding, and this tournament is in the same group as Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Tajikistan, of which Saudi Arabia and Iraq are generally expected to qualify together.
In the first round of the group stage, Iraq's opponents were Thailand, whose best result was in the quarter-finals, and the two sides met at the 2020 U23 Asian Cup, where the two sides drew 1-1.
In the overall strength comparison, Iraq has a clear advantage, and the team has a number of international players who have participated in the Asian Cup finals, but the result is not in good form against Thailand.
In the first half, Thailand was passive, relying on Waris's goal in the 26th minute, temporarily leading 1-0, and then Iraq fought back frantically, but it still couldn't attack for a long time.
In the 65th minute of the second half, Varys took a corner kick and assisted Tilasha to score a header in front of the goal, helping Thailand expand the score 2-0, and the whole team celebrated wildly.
Faced with a two-goal deficit, the Iraqi players had a problem with their mentality. In the 71st minute, Nehad received a second yellow card and was sent off, and Iraq was more passive in the fight with one less man, and finally suffered a 0-2 defeat.
For Thailand, the win was significant, as the Under-23 age group beat Iraq for the first time, ending an embarrassing run of four games without a win.
In addition, after Thailand won the good start, it temporarily reached the top with 3 points, and has occupied the initiative to qualify, and is not afraid of this group of death.
As the former champion of the tournament, Iraq's performance was not satisfactory, at least in the first round worse than China's national Olympic Games, and it lost to Thailand in an upset situation with superior strength, and was sent off in the second half, losing and losing. In the next round of the group stage, Iraq will face Tajikistan, and if they lose, they may be out of the tournament early.