In the early morning of April 27, Beijing time, the top 8 of the U23 Asian Cup were all over, and Uzbekistan and Iraq got the last two qualifications; Defending champion Saudi Arabia, host Qatar and favourites South Korea are all out.
Uzbekistan 2:0 Saudi Arabia
In the group stage, Uzbekistan showed a hot form, scoring 10 goals in three games and not conceding a goal in defense, which was the best team in the group stage, while Saudi Arabia also scored 10 goals in attack in the group stage, but in the end because of the loss to Iraq, they could only qualify as second in the group. This is the last final match, after 2 years to meet again, Uzbekistan finally ushered in the revenge battle; in the first half of stoppage time, Norchaev stabbed the first goal from a small angle, even though Saudi Arabia launched a counterattack in the second half but had little effect, in the 84th minute, Uzbekistan scored another goal, 2:0 victory over Saudi Arabia to send the defending champion out.
Iraq 1:0 Vietnam
Although they lost to Thailand in the first round of the group stage, with six points in the last two rounds and the advantage of each other's results, Iraq beat Saudi Arabia to successfully qualify for the first place in the group, and Vietnam only lost to Uzbekistan in the group stage. The two sides still have a slight advantage in the overall strength, Iraq shot 18-8 at the end of the game, 8-1 shots on target, in the 64th minute, Jassim scored the only goal of the game, Vietnam unfortunately stopped in the top 8.
In yesterday's two quarterfinals, Japan U23 scored an equalizer from Seiji Kimura and dragged the game into extra time, and in extra time, Nishitani and Uchino scored two goals in a row, and Japan successfully advanced to the semi-finals. However, the South Korean team broke out a big upset, facing Indonesia for the first time, South Korea was in no form at all, and even faced a 1:2 deficit at the end of the first half, although Zheng Xiangbin equalized in the 84th minute of the second half and stubbornly dragged the game into extra time. However, the two sides did not rewrite the score again in overtime, and South Korea lost 10:11 in the penalty shootout, and was eliminated with an aggregate score of 12:13.
South Korea's exit means the end of their streak of nine consecutive Olympic appearances, having participated in nine consecutive Olympic men's football competitions since Seoul 1988, with a bronze medal at London 2012. In this way, the semi-final matches of this year's U23 have also been officially announced, Indonesia vs Uzbekistan and Japan vs Iraq.