"Best performance ever, equal fight against Korea and Japan"
China won 2-1 against the United Arab Emirates (UAE), including its first goal, in the third Group B match of the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U23 Asian Cup at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Qatar, at 10 p.m. on the 22nd (Korea time).
With the victory, China ranked third in the group. At the same time, Korea won the match with Kim Min-woo's winning goal, and won the match with Japan 1-0. The Korean U-23 team led by Hwang Sun-hong will face Indonesia in the quarterfinals.
On the other hand, Japan (1-0 win in China, 2-0 win in UAE) faced Qatar, the hosts of the quarterfinals, as it suffered a perfect defeat in face-to-face confrontation with South Korea, which was exhausted due to full rotation. If Japan loses in the quarterfinals, it could fail to advance to the Olympics.
Japan, which played 10 players, and China, which failed to score a goal against South Korea, which had unstable defense in the beginning, took a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute of the first half when Xie Wenlong finished with a left-footed shot in a corner kick situation. On top of that, in the 38th minute of the first half, Abdouwerri, who drove the ball to the front of the arc, attempted a left-footed shot, which hit the opponent's arm, and a penalty kick (PK) was declared.
However, the PK was canceled after VAR check. Liu Zhurun, who did not miss the UAE midfielder's error in extra time in the first half, attempted a powerful right-footed shot. The opposing goalkeeper failed to properly clear the ball and took the lead, 2-0.
China, which led the game 2-0, started losing ground in the second half. The UAE took offensives in succession. Notably, Fauzi accepted a long pass from the rear line with his chest in the third minute of the second half, and connected it with a right footed shot to start the chase 1-2. 토토사이트 순위
China was pushed back but managed to hold on. In addition, errors by UAE defenders also added to this, resulting in China's 2-1 victory. Although the team has already decided to drop out of the Olympics, the team is bragging about its best-ever performance with just its first win and first score.
"The Chinese Olympic team has set various records by beating the UAE. This is the best record ever among Chinese teams that participated in the U-23 Asian Cup. It is the first time that the team has won a competition that was held outside of their home turf."
Sohu said, "Winning the U-23 Championship, which was held overseas in the first place, was a huge achievement even though the team had never even had a draw. And the team gave up just four goals in the championship. The team's defense capability has significantly improved compared to past defense capabilities such as tofu," adding that the team had one win and two losses.