Japan U23 and Uzbekistan U23 played together in the U23 Asia tournament on the night of March 3, and the Uzbeks are undefeated in this tournament, showing strong offense and defense. Facing the "Little Blue Samurai", the Uzbeks are looking for a draw in the upcoming matches.
Despite the quality of the Japanese players, and the performance of the striker Hosoya is getting better and better, this year's tournament has brought a little bit of stale feeling. In the five rounds of fighting, Japan only achieved 3 wins and 1 loss, the goal scoring efficiency is average. Against host Qatar in the last eight, Japan was once 0-2 down, but after a relentless effort, they eventually won 4-2 in overtime, and then took a two-goal lead over Iraq in the quarterfinals. However, after the changeover, Japan missed many good chances and the overall performance was not impressive.
Uzbekistan, on the other hand, have won all five of their matches in the tournament, scoring 14 goals without conceding a point, with striker Lochayev contributing three goals. The Uzbeks had lost in the quarterfinals, but Lochayev broke the deadlock just in time thanks to an offside goal ruled out by VAR. A number of players from the opponents were then sent off and the Uzbeks took the lead on a penalty kick opportunity to boost their morale. Having reached the final three times in recent years, the "Little Blue Samurai" are determined to win this year's tournament and will be looking for a repeat performance on the tie-break.
