In the second game of the semifinals of the U23 Asian Cup in the early morning of April 30, Beijing time, the third place of the previous year, Japan, played against the former champion Iraq. Shindai Hosoya opened the scoring and Ryotaro Araki saw the victory, and Japan defeated Iraq 2-0 to advance to the final, qualifying for the Olympics for the eighth consecutive time and will compete with Uzbekistan for the title. Iraq missed out on the final and will face Indonesia for the last direct ticket to the Paris Olympics.
Iraq is a traditional powerhouse in the Asian Cup, but after winning the inaugural title, it fell into silence and failed to reach the semi-finals in the last three editions. In this competition, Iraq started slowly, and the first upset loss to Thailand stimulated the team's fighting spirit, and then beat Tajikistan and the defending champion Saudi Arabia in a row, and rose to the top of the group with two consecutive wins, and narrowly defeated the Southeast Asian powerhouse Vietnam to enter the semi-finals, the team is getting better and better, and strive to win the second Asian Cup championship in team history and a direct ticket to the Paris Olympics.
On the other hand, the former champion Japan, the overall state has been up and down, the first two rounds of the group stage to win the weaker China Olympic and the United Arab Emirates are considered to be normal, but lost to South Korea in the strong dialogue, in the process of eight into four in overtime narrowly defeated the host Qatar, scored 7 goals in 4 games, conceded 3 goals, offensive and defensive performance is acceptable. They are still aiming to win the Asian Cup and qualify for the Olympics for the eighth time in a row.
Iraq opened the opening with a long pass bombing on the left and was cleared by the Japanese central defender. Japan gradually gained the upper hand in possession, opening up space on the two flanks on several occasions, Yu Hirakawa sent the ball into the box on the left, and Shindai Hosoya pushed his shot from the left outside the small box and was blocked by the goalkeeper. Iraq is relatively passive, mainly defending and counterattacking, but the front line is limited in the middle of the field, and can only rely on individual ability to create a threat, Jassim cut inside on the left and volleyed to the top of the arc by Reio Kokubo fell to the ground. Japan tightened control in the middle and continued to attack the space behind the defensive line, Ryotaro Araki's long-range shot from the top of the arc was saved, and Yuu Hirakawa's shot was missed. In the 27th minute, Fujita's long pass penetrated the defense, and Shindai Hosoya stepped forward in the penalty area to stop the ball and turned to push the far corner to score.
Leading Japan continued to impact the wings, Hosoya received a cross on the right side of the penalty area and turned around and volleyed was blocked, Yamada Kaede cut inside on the right side and shot slightly out, in the 41st minute, many people on the left side of Japan grabbed the ball back, Hirakawa Yu crossed the middle, Fujita Middle kicked the ball straight into the ball, Araki Ryotaro rushed into the penalty area from between the opponent's central defenders and pushed the far corner to expand the score.
Iraq accelerated the pace of the second half to try to steal the start, and several attacks put a lot of pressure on the Japanese defence. Japan's solid defense and tight attention to the opponent's key figures, especially limiting the play of the opponent's core Jassim, has also become a key factor in making the opponent dumb.
Iraq made a number of substitutions to gain the advantage on the pitch for a while, but the long-range shots and headers of Salim and Ali did not put too much pressure on Japan. The two teams battled each other offensively, increasing the pace of attack and defence on the pitch, but neither could find the back of the net in the second half. At the end of the game, Japan defeated Iraq 2-0 to advance to the final and secure a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
In the other semi-final, Uzbekistan eliminated Indonesia 2-0, thus putting Japan and Uzbekistan in a bid for the Asian Cup. Iraq is out of the tournament and will compete with dark horse Indonesia for a third direct qualification to the Olympic Games. Even if they lose the third-place match, they can still participate in the play-off against the fourth place in Africa, and there is still a good hope of qualifying for the Olympics.