In the early morning of April 30, Beijing time, the second semi-final of the U23 Asian Cup began, with the Japanese Olympic Games playing against the Iraqi National Olympic Games. In the end, Japan defeated Iraq 2-0 to advance to the finals of the Olympic Games for the eighth time in a row, and will next face Uzbekistan for the final title.
It was a matchup between the champions, with Iraq winning the 2013 title and Japan winning the 2016 title, having been eliminated in the semi-finals against Iraq, now meeting again for the first time in eight years.
With the top three teams qualifying for the Paris Olympics, the teams that advance to the final of this tournament will qualify for the Games. In recent years, Japan has been at the top level in Asia at all ages, while Iraq has maintained the second best rank in Asia, and there is a certain gap in strength between the two sides.
After the opening kick-off, both teams created a dangerous attack. In the 10th minute, Shindai Hosoya burst into the penalty area and fired a low shot that was blocked. In the 11th minute, Ali Jassim dribbled and fired a powerful shot, but the ball was saved by goalkeeper Reio Kokubo.
In the 28th minute, Japan made a long pass from the backfield, and Shindai Hosoya stopped the ball and turned to shoot and scored, and the score broke the deadlock 1-0.
In the 43rd minute, Japan extended the score to 2-0, and a series of smooth cooperation in the front field, and finally Ryotaro Araki scored with a single push, once again breaking through the Iraqi defense.
In the second half, Japan continued to control the game and kept the goal clean in the face of Iraq's counterattack.
After eliminating Iraq, Japan returned to the final of the Asian Cup for the first time in eight years and qualified for the Paris Olympics ahead of schedule.
According to statistics, this is the 12th time that Japan has qualified for the Olympic Games, and the eighth time in a row, which means that it has not missed the Olympic men's football competition since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Earlier, the first semi-final was played by Uzbekistan against Indonesia, which was the first meeting between the two teams. In the end, Uzbekistan dominated the whole game, relying on Norchaev's goal and the opponent's defender's own goal, defeating Indonesia with a score of 2-0, winning five consecutive victories without conceding one goal to advance to the final.
This is the first time in the history of the Uzbekistan team that they have qualified for the Olympic Games, and Indonesia still has a chance to qualify for the finals for the first time if they finish third in the tournament.
Our Chinese Olympic Games ended early in the group stage, losing to Japan and South Korea in one round in a row, and defeated the United Arab Emirates in the final round of honor matches, ending a seven-game losing streak in the U23 Asian Cup, while creating the best record in history with a result of 9th place.