With Uzbekistan's 3-0 victory over Vietnam and Kuwait's 2-1 victory over Malaysia, the U23 Asian Cup group stage has come to an end, and the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup have also been officially released, they are: South Korea, Japan, Qatar, Indonesia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Vietnam!
Saudi Arabia faces a strong enemy, and Japan may be a blessing in disguise
In this year's U23 Asian Cup, from the perspective of the value ranking, Uzbekistan is the first, Japan and South Korea are close behind, and the three teams have also become the three favorite teams to win the Asian Cup! The first of the four groups are: South Korea, Qatar, Iraq and Uzbekistan! 1/4 Knockout round, Japan, Qatar, Iraq and Vietnam are the top half of the teams, Japan will play Qatar, Iraq will play Vietnam;
And Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Uzbekistan gathered together, creating the second half of the death zone! The root of all this lies in Iraq, the spoiler! In the first two rounds of the group stage, Saudi Arabia has accumulated 6 points from two consecutive wins, and Iraq and Thailand have 3 points; from the perspective of strength, if Iraq loses in the final round, Thailand can qualify with a draw! However, Thailand lost to Tajikistan, which was at the bottom of the group, and Iraq changed its fate and defeated Saudi Arabia 2-1, not only successfully qualifying, but also advancing to the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup as the first in the group! Saudi Arabia, which was supposed to be in the upper half, had to fall into the bottom half.
In the second half, South Korea's semi-final opponent is Indonesia, while Saudi Arabia encounters Uzbekistan, the strongest team in this Asian Cup! Uzbiks is full of firepower in the group stage, winning all three games, scoring 10 goals without conceding a goal, and the offensive firepower is terrifying!
Japan lost 0-1 to South Korea in the third game of the group stage, although the 1/4 knockout opponent Qatar is stronger than Indonesia, but from the perspective of the championship, Japan may be a blessing in disguise! If Japan defeats Qatar, the semi-final opponent will be between Iraq and Vietnam, and no matter which team it plays, Japan is the side that has a better chance of advancing to the final;
South Korea, on the other hand, is in the lower half of the death zone, although the road to the quarterfinals is smoother than Japan's, but even if it advances to the semifinals, the encounter in the semifinals will make South Korea miserable. However, there is no weak team in the top four, the biggest charm of football is unpredictable, the future is undecided, you and I are dark horses! Nepalesia team advanced to the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup for the first time in history, Vietnam advanced to the quarterfinals for two consecutive U23 Asian Cups, Iraq changed its fate in the group stage and qualified for the top spot in the group, and has become the biggest dark horse.
The national football team regretted ninth, winning the second win of the U23 Asian Cup
The U23 national football team is in a group of out-and-out death, while China, Japan and South Korea gathered, the United Arab Emirates also ranked fourth in the Asian Cup value rankings, which should not be underestimated. The national football team defeated the United Arab Emirates 2-1 to score all three points, with a goal difference of -2, and finally ranked third in the group!
In this year's U23 Asian Cup, our young players won the second victory in the group stage of the Asian Cup in the past five years, although they failed to qualify for the group, but the U23 national football team also ended the embarrassing record of seven consecutive defeats in the group stage! In the group stage of the five U23 Asian Cups, the national Olympic Games lost 13 games in 15 games, and they have never qualified from the group for ten years, and once again lost the qualification to compete for the Olympic ticket.