The third round of the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers has ended, with 15 qualifying places generated, plus the host Saudi team, the list of 16 teams of the U23 Asian Cup tournament has been released. The last four teams, the Japanese team, Uzbekistan team and Iraq, all advanced, but the Indonesian team was missing, and the latter missed to become one of the best-achieving teams, and the biggest upset was revealed.
The following are the final rankings for the second in 11 groups:
1. China: 7 points, 11 goals (qualifying)
2. Uzbekistan: 7 points, 5 goals (qualifying)
3. Lebanon: 7 points, 4 goals (qualifying)
4. UAE: 6 points, 14 goals (qualifying)
5. India: 6 points, 7 goals difference
6. Turkmenistan: 6 points, 5 goals difference
7. Philippines: 6 points, 4 goals difference
8. Yemen: 6 points, 1 goal difference
9. Cambodia: 5 points, 1 goal difference
10. Indonesia: 4 points, 4 goals difference
11. Kuwait: 4 points, 4 goals and 4 goals
After drawing the Australian team, the Chinese team scored 7 points and 11 goals, ensuring that they became the second in one of the best-performing groups. They did not have to wait for the end of other group matches before determining whether to qualify, and ranked first in the second place in all groups.
The other three best-achieving groups were second, and were won by Uzbekistan, Lebanon and UAE. Among them, Uzbekistan and Lebanon all had 7 points, but the UAE team had 6 points, which eventually beat the Indian team, Turkmenistan, Philippines, Yemen, Cambodia, Indonesia and Kuwait teams with the same 6 points.
Among them, the Indian team is the closest team to qualifying. In the end, he missed the goal difference advantage behind the UAE team by 8 goals.
For this reason, an Indian football blogger seemed dissatisfied, mainly targeting the Chinese team and the Australian team, believing that they were playing fake football in this game. He posted a video of Australia's last moment of downing his feet and slamming the ball in the backcourt, and said: "What is this? This is obviously evidence of fake football. A 0-0 draw can almost ensure that both Australia and China can advance to the U23 Asian Cup. The AFC must thoroughly investigate the matter and conduct a proper investigation."
In this game, the Chinese team players were playing very seriously, especially on the defensive end, just not wanting the Australian team to score goals, but only they know what the Australian team's attitude towards the game was. They directly played the ball at the last moment of the second half. There was indeed such a behavior, but it was impossible to confirm whether they were playing fake football. One thing that can be confirmed is that the Australian team did not really want to win this game.
The 16 teams in the U23 Asian Cup and their ratings:
First level: Saudi Arabia (host), Uzbekistan, Japan, Iraq
Second level: South Korea, Vietnam, Australia, Qatar
Third level: Thailand, Jordan, UAE, Iran
Fourth level: China, Syria, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon
In the last event, Indonesian and Tajikistan participated in the competition. This time the qualifiers were eliminated, but other teams were replaced, namely Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon. Both teams advanced to the U23 Asian Cup for the first time in history, and made a major breakthrough in team history.
According to the arrangement, the main match will be drawn on October 2. The most ideal grouping result for the Chinese team should be Iraq, Vietnam, Thailand, and there is hope to qualify in the group, but if the Japanese team or Uzbekistan, South Korea, Australia, Jordan or Iran team is basically facing elimination.
