In the early morning of April 24, Beijing time, all the group stages of the U23 Asian Cup were over, the top 8 were all determined, and the 1/4 finals were officially released. Japan encountered the host Qatar, and the last champion and runner-up Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan "fired" in advance.
The top 8 of this year's U23 Asian Cup are Qatar (1st in Group A), Indonesia (2nd in Group A), South Korea (1st in Group B), Japan (2nd in Group B), Iraq (1st in Group C), Saudi Arabia (2nd in Group C), Uzbekistan (1st in Group D), and Vietnam (2nd in Group D). Among them, there are 2 teams in East Asia, 2 teams in Southeast Asia, 3 teams in West Asia, and 1 team in Central Asia.
In the quarter-finals, the top half of the zone is Iraq vs Vietnam and Qatar vs Japan, and the bottom half is South Korea vs Indonesia and Uzbekistan vs Saudi Arabia. Since the Japanese Olympic team only finished second in the group, the quarter-finals had to meet the host Qatar team, and the last year's champions Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan met early, and two of the four teams are destined to miss the Paris Olympics.
The top three finishers of the Under-23 Asian Cup will qualify for the Paris Olympics, while the fourth place finishers will play a play-off against African teams for the final one of the spots. Due to the regret of the Chinese Olympic team ranking third in Group B, it has been confirmed that it will not participate in the Olympic Games for 4 consecutive years.
Attached: U23 Asian Cup 1/4 finals match situation and time
Qatar vs Japan April 25 22:00
South Korea vs Indonesia April 26 01:30
Uzbekistan vs Saudi Arabia April 26 22:00
Iraq vs Vietnam April 27 01:30