On April 27, Beijing time, in the last game of the quarterfinals of the U23 Asian Cup, Iraq played Vietnam, Jassim made a decisive decision, Iraq eliminated Vietnam 1-0, and advanced to the semifinals again after eight years, and will compete with Japan for the finals and the qualification for the Paris Olympics. In this way, the Asian Cup semi-finals are Japan vs. Iraq, Uzbekistan meets Indonesia, of which Japan, Uzbekistan and Iraq have won the championship, and the big dark horse Indonesia will attack the Olympic ticket and the Asian Cup champion.
Iraq's path to qualification was quite difficult, with a shock defeat to Thailand in the first round of the group stage, and a second-round defeat to Tajikistan to finish third in the group, but they were able to leap to the top of the table by narrowly beating Saudi Arabia in the final round. Vietnam performed well in this series, with Liksia powerhouse Kuwait and Southeast Asian team Malaysia losing to last year's runner-up Uzbekistan in the final round, and finally finished second in the group and successfully qualified.
Perhaps encouraged by Southeast Asian neighbor Indonesia's promotion to the semi-finals, Vietnam took the initiative to attack in the front court with high pressure, and after getting the ball, they would quickly instigate an offensive and then apply pressure on the front court, creating two corner kick offensive opportunities in less than 10 minutes. Iraq, on the other hand, unhurriedly transmitted patient organization in the backfield, waiting for Vietnam's overall formation to press and quickly hit the deep gaps on the wings, but the success rate of passing and receiving the ball was low.
Iraq's possession advantage appeared, and they continued to use long passes to create offensive threats, and in the 15th minute, the Vietnamese defenders made a mistake in clearing the ball from the left side outside the Mundade penalty area, and Ali's empty shot in the far corner was saved, and Jassim's follow-up shot in front of the goal was saved. In the 21st minute, Ali took a long set-piece into the penalty area, and Nihad grabbed the header and hit the goal and bounced off the crossbar.
Vietnam was suppressed and started a defensive counterattack, and in the 26th minute, a quick long pass was sent into the penalty area, and goalkeeper Hussein came out to block the ball with one hand. Iraq played a beautiful one-two on the left side of the field, but Jassim's cross was cleared by Kwan Wenzhuo. Before the end of the half, the two sides were attacking and defending each other. Nguyen Van Song stopped the ball in the penalty area and got rid of the volley kick away, and Ali was unmarked on the edge of the arc and shot directly from a distance, each squandering a good chance to score. Iraq had nearly 60 per cent possession in the half, failed to take advantage of two scoring chances, and Vietnam failed to score with two empty shots in the box.
In the 51st minute, Ali broke through the bottom line of the penalty area and crossed to block. In the 55th minute, Hu Wenkang's long pass from the left flew directly to the goal and smashed on the crossbar, and both teams each had a threatening ball that hit the goal frame. In the 62nd minute, Iraq instigated an attack on the side, and passed the ball into the middle of the penalty area with continuous headers, and Nihad was knocked down by the goalkeeper in front of the small penalty area, and the referee looked back at VAR and gave a penalty, and Jassim pushed the top corner to score.
In the 65th minute, Muhammad failed to stop the transfer of a long pass in the open space in the penalty area, and squandered another good opportunity. Three minutes later, Jassim fired a powerful shot from the left side of the penalty area. In the 81st minute, Mundade's 30-meter left-footed shot was saved. In the 91st minute, Nguyen Van Hung was sent off for a stampede and foul. At full-time, Iraq defeated Vietnam 1-0 to advance to the semi-finals.
In the other knockout game, Uzbekistan showed a more solid style of play, beating defending champions Saudi Arabia 2-0 thanks to two goals from Norchariv and Rakhmonaliev. Semi-final matchups announced: Iraq-Japan, Uzbekistan-Indonesia. South Korea, Australia, and Saudi Arabia were all eliminated from the 2020 Olympics and missed the Paris Olympics. The sudden emergence of the dark horse Indonesia has made the series more suspenseful, and this Asian Cup is really a bit "cold"!