In the U23 Asian Cup 1/4 finals in the early morning, the dark horse Indonesian Olympic team knocked out the South Korean Olympic team and successfully advanced to the semifinals of the Asian Cup, which was not only the first time in the history of the Indonesian team to reach the semifinals of the Asian Cup, but also ended the record of the South Korean team to break into the finals of the Olympic Games for nine consecutive years, so that the latter missed the Olympics again after 40 years.
(Quarterfinals-South Korea U23 online picture)
The outstanding performance of the quarter-finals has made this year's U23 Asian Cup even more eye-catching. From this Cup, combined with the previous Senior Asian Cup, it can be seen that Asian football is experiencing a new development trend. That is, with the rapid rise of some new football forces, the map of Asian football is quietly changing. In addition to the traditional strong teams inherent in Asia in the past, the strength of some non-traditional strong teams is improving rapidly, and the inherent division of strength and weakness in Asian football is being broken.
(Semifinals-Indonesia U23 online picture)
1. The advantage of the strong team is still the same
Whether it is the U23 Asian Cup or the senior Asian Cup that ended early, it is found through observation that traditional strong teams such as Japan, South Korea, Iran, Australia, and Saudi Arabia are still strong, although their records also have ups and downs, but the status of the top 5 in Asia is still stable and difficult to shake for the time being.
(Asian Cup runner-up - Jordan team online picture)
2. Consolidate the position of the quasi-strong team
At the same time, some strong teams are also constantly consolidating their position, the more representative are Qatar, Iraq, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and other teams, they already have a strong competitiveness, but in the past games volatility, lack of stability, but in these two tournaments, these teams have shown a certain maturity and calmness, are gradually establishing their own strong team identity, this process is especially outstanding in Uzbekistan and Iraq.
These two teams also make up the top two teams in Asian football. It can be positioned as a strong team or a quasi-strong team in Asia, their strength is more prominent, and they are the fierce rivals of the Chinese team in the competition, and they are all difficult opponents to deal with.
(Quarterfinals - Vietnam U23, online picture)
3. New forces are on the rise
In addition to traditional and quasi-strong teams, Asian football has also witnessed the rise of some new forces. Regions that were previously considered to be poor in football, such as Jordan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Tajikistan and Vietnam, are steadily improving at the national team level. Tajikistan and Jordan reached the quarter-finals of the senior Asian Cup, while Indonesia and Vietnam reached the quarter-finals of the Under-23 Asian Cup, which exceeded expectations.
(China U23 network image)
In the past, these teams were standard Asian fish belly, and in the past, in the competition, they played against the Chinese team, and they often acted as the "point boys" of the Chinese team. However, with their strong performances in these two Asian cups, they have refreshed the perception of fans. Looking at it now, if these teams play against the Chinese team, it is difficult to say that the national football team will definitely win. For example, the Indonesian team that just eliminated the South Korean team U23, you know, South Korea U23 just won the National Olympics 2-0, think about the Indonesian team, this strength is really chilling down the spine.
In this way, in Asia, the Chinese team's tough opponents, to say the least, there must be thirteen or fourteen, in the World Cup Asian zone of the ticket is only 8.5, with the increase of strong players, Asian football will only become more and more rolled. If Chinese football doesn't catch up, there will really be fewer and fewer teams left for us to win.