On the night of the 19th, a fierce U23 Asian Cup final was staged in Uzbekistan, with Saudi Arabia defeating the hosts by a score of 2-0 to be crowned the champion. Uzbekistan was the runner-up, but our team regretted to stop the qualifying round and missed out on a place in the final.
This year's U23 Asian Cup runs from June 1-19 in Uzbekistan. Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan finished at the top of their respective groups with two wins and a draw each in the group stage. The Saudis beat Vietnam and Australia 2-0 in the knockout rounds, while Uzbekistan narrowly beat Iraq 3-2 on penalties and eliminated Japan 2-0 in the semifinals to meet Saudi Arabia in the final.
In the final, Saudi Arabia scored a goal in the 48th and a goal in the 74th minute to win 2-0. Meanwhile, in the 3rd and 4th place finals earlier in the day, Japan defeated Australia 3-0 to win the third place.
It is worth mentioning that our U22 national team officially announced its withdrawal from the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers in Tajikistan on October 11, 2021, and thus failed to advance to the final stage.
