By the 24th minute, China U23 had a chance to take a corner kick, and Xie Wen could seize the opportunity to kick a powerful breakthrough goal! 0-1, China U23 managed to take the lead!
Yao Junsheng's goal against Qatar U23s on January 15, 2018, the last time China's U23s scored at the U23 Asian Cup, has now finally broken a 2,289-day goal drought!
In the 39th minute, Byhramu took a shot on goal with the ball. The ball met the arm of a defender in the box and the referee blew for a yellow card + penalty kick, but then canceled the call via VAR.
In 5 minutes of extra time, a UAE U23 player gave a gift for a misplaced pass, Liu Zhurun quickly intercepted and burst into the penalty area to calmly shoot a low shot! 0-2, China U23 extended their advantage!
At the end of the first half, China U23 managed to take a two-goal lead over their opponents and seemed to have finally won a game. I have kicked six shots and two field goals. After these three games, the team is more skillful in offense, but it has been declared out. To put it bluntly, the usual practical games are not enough.
In the second half, the two teams played again. In the 46th minute, China U23 launched an attack and Ruan Qilong took a direct shot from the left side. Bhairaki got the ball and shot low into the goal, but the referee was offside and the goal was disallowed.
On forty-eight minutes, Salmon sent a beautifully executed long pass from the center circle, which Fawzi calmly pushed out for the score! UAE U231-2 equalized!
While the Chinese U23s maintained their lead, the players seemed unable to keep up the intense running for more than 60 minutes as the clock ticked down. Opponents took advantage of the situation to organize their attacks in what can only be described as a familiar feeling.
In the 72nd minute, Tao Qianglong played a wonderful diagonal pass to Bayramu, who fired a low shot that was unfortunately taken by the keeper. In the 81st minute, Sultan Ali hit a free kick that went straight to the top corner. Li Hao bravely pounced on the danger!
With the score locked at 1-2 after the entire match, China U23 managed to beat UAE U23 and managed to end their 2-game losing streak, finally picking up their second U23 AFC Asian Cup win in the team's history after 6 years! The last win was a 3-0 victory over Oman U23 in Changzhou in 2018.
Meanwhile, in another match, South Korea U23 defeated Japan U23 by 1-0 to win the first place in Group B. So far, China U23 won 1, drew 0, and lost 2 of the three matches, and ranked third in Group B with 3 points, announcing the end of this year's U23 Asian Cup journey. Since participating in the five editions of the tournament, China U23 has won a total of 15 matches, 2 wins and 13 losses, and has yet to get out of the group.
Facing a loss in the same group of Japan and South Korea and beating the UAE in the battle of honor, China U23's group exit has long exceeded the expectations of many fans. Poor fundamentals and long training over the past five years left fans confused and bewildered by this U23, but in the end it managed to get goals and a win, at least a little better than the overall performance of the previous two editions.
All I can say is that I hope the future of Chinese soccer will be better!
