The 2024 U23 Asian Cup and Paris Olympic Games qualifiers have officially kicked off in Doha, Qatar. Because it's about qualifying for the Paris Olympics. Each team also showed almost all the family backgrounds that they could get their hands on! And because of this, the game was also wonderful and very intense! Of course, because of the intensity of the game, it was inevitable that there would be upsets. In a match that ended not long ago, the Asian champion Iraq and Thailand faced off against each other. As a result, Thailand's Olympic team defeated the Iraqi Olympic team 2-0.
In this Olympic qualifiers, a total of 16 teams entered the final competition. They were divided into 4 groups. The group stage will face each other off, and the top two teams will advance to the knockout round. The top three finishers in this competition will receive direct tickets to the Paris Olympics. The fourth-place team will face off against Guinea in Africa for the final ticket to the Olympics. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Thailand and Tajikistan are in Group B. In the first round of the group stage, Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan faced off, and Iraq and Thailand competed.
The Iraqi Olympic team has won championships in its history. In this competition, they are also aiming to get a ticket to the Olympic Games, so they have gathered a number of players who have participated in the Asian Cup to help. Although the Thai Olympic team has grown rapidly in recent years, there is still a clear gap with the Iraqi team. Therefore, many media and fans were optimistic about the Iraqi team winning before the game.
As soon as the game began, the Iraqi Olympic team launched a fierce attack. However, they missed the lead with a lack of precision in their final shot. The Thai Olympic team quickly seized the opportunity to counterattack after withstanding the opponent's opening onslaught. At one point in the game, there was a confrontational state. After a long attack, there was a gap in the back line of the Iraqi Olympic team when defending against set-pieces. The Thai Olympic team relied on Varys' goal in the 26th minute to temporarily take a 1-0 lead. Accidentally scored by the opponent, the Iraqi Olympic team continued to strengthen the attack. But the Thai Olympic team is united. In the first half, the Iraqi Olympic team ended from 0-1 down.
The Iraqi Olympic team continued to attack like a tide at the beginning! But it only blossomed but did not bear fruit. Instead, it was the Thai Olympic team that scored again in the 65th minute. Varys took a corner kick and assisted Tirasa to head home in front of the goal to extend the score 2-0. With two goals down, the mentality of the Iraqi Olympic team changed. The defensive action is also getting bigger. In the 71st minute, Iraqi Olympic player Nihad received a second yellow card and was sent off. The Iraqi Olympic team, which has one less player to play, is powerless to change the score. In the end, they lost 0-2 to the Thai Olympic team.
To be honest, the performance of the Iraqi Olympic team is not as good as that of the Chinese Olympic team. The Chinese Olympic team lost 0-1 to the Japanese Olympic team in the first round of the group stage. Lost only one goal, and the Iraqi Olympic team also lost two goals! Upset, the Iraqi Olympic team wants to advance, the challenge is not small! Moreover, although the Chinese men's football team lost the first game, but only lost one goal, from the perspective of strength, we are facing the first in Asia, all we only lost 1 goal, it is completely understandable, the next two opponents, as long as the Chinese team can win to complete two consecutive wins, the Chinese team should not have a big problem qualifying, all, the Chinese team should not be discouraged because of the loss of the first game, we still have a chance! The premise is that we don't mess with ourselves!