On April 23, Beijing time, in the last two games of the U23 Asian Cup group stage, Uzbekistan swept Vietnam 3-0, Kuwait narrowly defeated Malaysia 2-1 in the quarterfinals, and the defending champion Saudi Arabia played against Uzbekistan to repeat the last final;
Uzbekistan 3-0 Vietnam
Last year's runner-up Uzbekistan played with the ball and entered the field, breaking through the defense line in the 4th minute of the opening game against offside, and Olilov scored a goal to create a dream start. Leading Uzbekistan controlled possession but slowed down. Vietnam took advantage of the situation to strengthen the pressing in the midfield and also played two counter-attacks, one of which was when No. 10 Vu Nguyen Hoang even sent a threatening shot in the hinterland of the front. In the middle of the half, Uzbekistan suddenly accelerated the tempo and sent precise passes one after another, causing the Vietnamese defense to collapse continuously, and Gijalov and Olilov easily hit two goals in a row, and they had a three-goal lead at halftime. The second half was relatively dull, Vietnam had no desire to score and did not attack much. Uzbekistan's victory was decided, and although the attack was not ferocious, two shots to the post failed to extend the score. At the end of the game, Uzbekistan won by 3 goals, won three consecutive victories, and played the style of the favorite team to win the championship. Vietnam finished second in the group with 2 wins and 1 loss and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Malaysia 1-2 Kuwait
Kuwait's desire to attack is not strong, and as soon as it comes up, it strengthens the pressure to get a red card. Malaysia played more aggressively, constantly looking for breakthroughs on the wings, and several unsuccessful wing-center tactics. After some temptation, the two sides accelerated the pace of conversion and started a battle of attack. Malaysia continued to tear open gaps on the flank, with Fergus being ruled offside on a counter-attack from the left and then intercepted when he broke through the defence on the right and connected with the middle. Kuwait instigated a threat on three occasions, but one had a good chance to fly in front of the six-yard box and two set-pieces were saved with overhead kicks. Just before half-time, the Malaysian goalkeeper was sent off for a red card when he knocked down an opponent when he rushed out of the box to prevent a counter-attack, and then the substitute goalkeeper fouled the penalty in the penalty area, and Kuwait scored a penalty to break the deadlock. Kuwait stepped up their offensive in the second half, and in the 60th minute, Talal scored with a header from the side of the center to extend the score. Malaysia fought back stubbornly three minutes later, and three minutes later, Hakimi fired a volley into the opposite corner to pull a goal back. At full-time, Kuwait fought for glory to beat Malaysia 2-1.
The quarterfinals were released, and the 9th in the National Olympic Games missed the top 8
With the end of the last two matches of Group D, Uzbekistan ranked first in the group with three consecutive wins, and advanced with Vietnam, and the quarterfinals were officially finalized, Japan vs. Qatar, and the bottom half: Indonesia vs. South Korea, Uzbekistan vs. Saudi Arabia. Among them, the Usha encounter will be a repeat of the last final.
The former five-time champions Iraq, Japan, Uzbekistan, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia played the strength of a strong team and all advanced to the quarterfinals. In addition to these five teams, there are four teams that have reached the semi-finals in the previous five tournaments, namely Vietnam, Qatar, Australia and Jordan, while only Qatar and Vietnam have reached the quarterfinals in this competition, Australia and Jordan are in the same group but both are out, and it is Indonesia, the dark horse of this tournament, who defeated them.
China's Olympic Games ranked 3rd in the group with 3 points, and finally ranked 9th and unfortunately went out, and the comprehensive performance was not as good as Indonesia, which entered the Asian Cup finals for the first time, and it was really difficult to satisfy the Chinese people. We can't help but ask: has Chinese football been surpassed by Southeast Asian football?