In a match in the third round of Group D of the U23 Asian Cup on April 24, Beijing time, Uzbekistan faced Vietnam to compete for the top spot in the group. Odilov scored twice and Slulank scored to give Uzbekistan a 3-0 thrashing of Vietnam to top the group and repeat the final against Saudi Arabia in the quarterfinals. Vietnam finished second in the group and qualified alongside another Southeast Asian team, Indonesia. China's Olympic Games finally ranked 9th and missed the top eight.
Uzbekistan has reached the semi-finals in the previous three Asian Cups, 1 champion, 1 runner-up, 1 third place, a proper first-tier strong team, and it is also the favorite team to win the championship this year. Vietnam has participated in the main draw of four Asian Cups, advanced to the quarterfinals twice, and won the runner-up once, and its strength should not be underestimated.
This time, Uzbekistan performed solidly, winning the first two rounds in a row and conceding no goals, ranking top of Group D and securing the quarterfinals. Southeast Asia's dark horse Vietnam, which is eye-catching, has Kuwait and Malaysia, ranking second on goal difference, and advanced to the qualifiers. The two winning teams met in this round, and the battle for the top spot in the group became the only suspense in this group.
However, since the final winner of this group will meet the defending champion Saudi Arabia in the quarterfinals, and Uzbekistan lost the championship in the last final, whether they choose to face the difficulties and face the shame, or avoid Saudi Arabia to face Iraq in the first half of the game, has become the most noteworthy highlight of this Ukrainian-Vietnamese war.
In the 4th minute of the opening game, Slulank penetrated the defense in an instant with a delicate straight plug on the right side, Ibrojim stepped into the penalty area against offside and knocked the ball horizontally, and Odilov easily pushed the goal in the middle to give Uzbekistan the lead. In the 10th minute, Slulank crossed from the right, and Otabek's header in the middle was deflected. In the 15th minute, Vietnam counterattacked with a long pass, and Vu Nguyen Hoang grabbed the ball from the bottom line of the front court, rushed into the penalty area, and shot at the far corner from a small angle.
Uzbekistan's offensive resumed, and in the 22nd minute, Gasbek took a set-piece on the right side of the front field, and Otabek's header was saved. In the 26th minute, Gasbeck's set-piece from the middle went straight wide. In the 35th minute, a long pass from the midfielder penetrated the defense, and Slulank successfully rushed into the penalty area against offside, and volleyed into the far corner from a small angle after continuous shaking. In the 39th minute, Odilov scored a brace with a header from a cross from the right.
After halftime, Vietnam made four substitutions in a row to strengthen the attack, and Uzbekistan also made substitutions. The pace slowed down on both sides, and the intensity of the confrontation was far less than in the first half, and Uzbekistan missed a good opportunity to extend the score twice in the middle frame. At full-time, Uzbekistan beat Vietnam 3-0.
The suspense of the battle for the top spot was revealed, with Uzbekistan topping the list and Vietnam finishing second in the group. The quarter-finals will then be revealed, with Vietnam vs Iraq and Qatar vs Japan, with the winners of these two groups vying for a place in the final. In the other half, South Korea plays Indonesia and Uzbekistan plays Saudi Arabia.
In the list of the top eight, West Asia is the most prominent, with three teams successfully qualified, and there is no suspense that the two teams of East Asia, Japan and South Korea and the Central Asian powerhouse Uzbekistan will join hands to qualify. The most surprising thing is that there are two teams in Southeast Asia to advance, among which Indonesia entered the Asian Cup for the first time, defeated Australia with an upset, and defeated Jordan to reach the quarterfinals, becoming the biggest dark horse in this tournament.
Vietnam is also expected to achieve a better position, their next round opponent Iraq, although the West Asian powerhouse won the first Asian Cup, but now is not the same as before, the team is far less than before, their performance this year is very inconsistent, the first round of upset loss to Thailand, the last two rounds of consecutive wins to Tajikistan and Saudi Arabia ranked first in the group to advance, and then is likely to be sent out by Vietnam.
China narrowly defeated the United Arab Emirates 2-1 in the final round of the Olympic Games to avoid the bottom of the group, and finally ranked 9th and missed the quarterfinals, creating the best ranking in the Asian Cup, but the team's overall performance is far worse than that of Indonesia and Vietnam, two Southeast Asian teams. The younger generation of Chinese football has been overtaken by Southeast Asian football.