Beijing time on April 23rd, the U23 Asian Cup ended last night and this morning in the third round of the two groups B and C. In a key battle for qualifying in Group C, the Thai team was defeated in the 91st minute. 2 Tajikistan, the last team in the losing streak, counterattacked 1-0 and won its first victory. In the end, the Thai team was eliminated from the group, and Saudi Arabia and Iraq joined hands to qualify from this group. So far, the top eight teams of this U23 Asian Cup have all been born: Qatar and Indonesia in Group A, South Korea and Japan in Group B, Saudi Arabia and Iraq in Group C, and Uzbekistan and Vietnam in Group D.
Early this morning, there were two final rounds of Group C, Saudi Arabia vs. Iraq, and Thailand vs. Tajikistan. The game process was a magical script. The qualifying situation remained suspenseful and exciting until the Thai team lost the ball in the 91st minute and was defeated. The qualifying teams in the group are basically determined to be the two West Asian powerhouses, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. From the analysis of the pre-match standings, the Saudi team is in the best position to qualify with 2 consecutive wins, but theoretically there is also the risk of being eliminated. Once Saudi Arabia loses to Iraq in the final round of the group, and the Thai team defeats Tajikistan, then there will be Saudi Arabia and Iraq. , Thailand has an extreme situation of 6 points, and the relationship between victory and defeat just forms a closed loop, that is, Saudi Arabia loses to Iraq, Iraq loses to Thailand, and Thailand loses to Saudi Arabia!
Unexpectedly, this most extreme situation almost happened. Saudi Arabia lost 1-2 to Iraq. The match between Thailand and Tajikistan was still 0-0 until injury time. At this time, as long as The Thai team scored, so the real-time standings was that Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Thailand had the same score and the relationship between victory and defeat formed a closed loop. However, in the 91st minute, Tajikistan made a very inconspicuous 45-degree cross from outside the penalty area, which completely shattered the situation. The Thai team had the hope of qualifying. The Thai team collectively missed people in their own penalty area. Safarov jumped high and scored with a header. Tajikistan staged a stoppage time victory 1-0!
In this way, the suspense of this group ended. Saudi Arabia and Iraq qualified together with 6 points, Thailand was eliminated, and Tajikistan, the bottom team, won its first victory in the group after two consecutive losses, and finally ended this U23 tournament with a victory. Asian Cup journey.
Late last night, the two final rounds of Group B were similar to those of Group C. Like Saudi Arabia, the Japanese team also lost its first defeat to South Korea 0-1 after two consecutive wins, while the Chinese team lost 2-2. 1 narrowly defeated the United Arab Emirates and ushered in the first victory. However, unlike Group C, the suspense of qualifying for Group B had already been revealed after the first two rounds. Japan and South Korea only competed for the top spot in the group in the final round.
As the South Korean team narrowly defeated the Japanese team 1-0 and the Chinese team narrowly defeated the United Arab Emirates 2-1, the final standings of Group B were released: the South Korean team won 3 games to advance to the top spot, the Japanese team advanced to second place in the group with 2 wins and 1 loss, and China The team was eliminated in third place with 1 win and 2 losses, and the UAE lost all 3 games and was eliminated at the bottom. After 6 years, the Chinese team once again won a victory in the U23 Asian Cup, and also avoided the embarrassment of being eliminated from the U23 Asian Cup for two consecutive years with 0 goals.
