On the night of the 15th, Doha, Qatar, saw a magnificent restart of the U23 Asian tournament with new stars and passion. In this 16-team competition, the title of champion and Asian champion, but also a direct ticket to the Olympic men's soccer team in Paris. Many Asian stars are eager to fight for their dreams and pave a solid "money" path for the future. Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Uzbekistan are the five strongest teams in the world, and their young players will give it their all for honor and prestige.
The challengers to the "Asian domination", in addition to the strength of the international players, Japan's youth team is the focus of attention of the fans in every tournament. 2016, they won the championship, and the last edition of the U21 players sent two years younger to participate in the tournament, but still won the third place. This time, they gathered again, some of the age of the European players, such as Kubo Jianying, Suzuki Caiyan, etc. failed to be selected, the strength of the greatly reduced, the road to win the championship is even more difficult.
Neither Japan nor South Korea fielded their strongest lineups
South Korea, who are in the same group as Japan, have reached the quarterfinals four times in the past five tournaments, and in 2020 they even managed to reach the top. However, like Japan, the Taejik Tigers have not recalled Paris Saint-Germain star Lee Kang-in, which will undoubtedly affect their chances of winning the tournament.
As for the previous runner-up and champion Saudi Arabia, their strength should not be underestimated. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has been vigorously developing its national league, competing for the right to host the world, and paying great attention to the youth tournament. In addition, Qatar, as the host, owns half the battle at home. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia's opponents in Group C are relatively weak and have enough capital to cope with the knockout rounds, combining multiple advantages and naturally becoming the favorite to win the championship.
Australia and Uzbekistan, too, have been regular top-four finishers in recent years. Australia have finished third and third in the last two editions of the tournament, while Uzbekistan have finished in the top four for three consecutive editions. 2018 saw Uzbekistan win the title, before falling to Saudi Arabia in the last final. Looking at the groupings, Australia and hosts Qatar face some challenges, while Uzbekistan have come out of the group stages like tigers, bringing surprises in every game.
