In the final eight of the U17 Asian Cup, the Uzbekistan men's soccer team beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 to reach the quarterfinals, marking their return to the final round of the World Junior Championships after a 10-year hiatus. After the match, the whole team was immersed in the joy of victory and celebrated in an atmosphere as if they had won the championship.
Saudi Arabia, the evergreen of Asian soccer, have won the Asian Cup three times and are also the U17 World Junior Champions. In recent years, with the revival of the soccer level, they have steadily risen in the Asian rankings and are now firmly in the top five. In this year's Asian Junior Championships, the Saudis won three consecutive matches and finished first in three consecutive matches, returning to the World Junior Championships with high ambitions, but the first task is to get past Uzbekistan first. Uzbekistan last played in the World Junior Championships in 2013, and have been waiting for a decade now. Notably, the Uzbekistan men's soccer team has already won the Asian Cup in both the U23 and U20 age groups, and now they are eager to add to their success in the U17 age group. Uzbekistan were not favored to win the tournament against the favorites, Saudi Arabia, who were in great form after winning three straight group games. However, Uzbekistan showed a tenacious defense in the match and managed to contain the Saudi attack. Towards the end of the match, Uzbekistan struck with a precise shot past the Saudi goalkeeper to make the score 1-0, and only five minutes later, the Saudi backline failed again. Only five minutes later, the Saudi defense failed again, and Uzbekistan finished the game with a 2-0 win. The joy of the victory was palpable, as the entire Uzbekistan team celebrated wildly, with players from the bench rushing onto the pitch and the coaching team hugging each other to celebrate the victory. Head coach Rakhmatullayev was overcome with emotion and tears. The victory not only put Uzbekistan into the quarterfinals of the tournament, but also earned them a spot in the 2023 World Junior Championships, making them the last team to qualify. Statistically, Uzbekistan's last appearance at the World Youth Championship was in 2013, their first time advancing to the knockout stage, and it has now been a decade of waiting. With Uzbekistan's advancement, the dust has settled on the quarterfinals of this year's Asian Cup, with the exact matchups set to be Uzbekistan versus South Korea and Japan versus Iran. In contrast, the U17 Chinese men's soccer team coached by Yang Chen exited the Asian Cup with only one draw and two losses in three group matches, finishing at the bottom of the table.
