The “boggart” of West Asia!

A gentle 2-0 victory was enough for U23 Saudi Arabia to win first place in Group D and win tickets to the quarterfinals against U23 Vietnam. This will be an extremely difficult match for teachers and coach Gong Oh-kyun when U23 Saudi Arabia is considered as one of the leading candidates for the championship and possesses a very modern style of play.

On the evening of June 10, U23 Saudi Arabia entered the match with U23 UAE while showing an extremely impressive performance when scoring 5 goals and not conceding a goal after 2 matches. With the determination to win to affirm their strength in Group D, U23 Saudi Arabia rushed to attack from the first minutes of the match against U23 UAE.

Meanwhile, the team that defeated U23 Vietnam before the 2022 AFC U23 Championship also showed that they are not an easy team to be bullied and together with U23 Saudi Arabia created a spectacular double attack. However, during the first 45 minutes of the first half, no team scored a goal. Of course, U23 Saudi Arabia are the ones who regret it more when they create many clear dangerous opportunities, but the striker Hadi Radif and his teammates could not win against the excellence of goalkeeper Al Mutawa on the U23 side. UAE.

The most obvious opportunity for U23 Saudi Arabia came in the 43rd minute when Haitham Asiri took advantage of the chaos in the penalty area to hit the UAE U23 net. However, after consulting with the VAR team, the referee denied the goal of the player on the Saudi side because of the error of touching the ball.

Until the 57th minute of the match, midfielder Yahya Ahmed on the Saudi side U23 had an excellent personal ball situation to face the UAE U23 goalkeeper and easily launched a precise sinking shot to open the scoring. for U23 Saudi Arabia.

In the 75th minute, UAE U23 had to play without people when captain No. 6 Eid Khamis Alnuaimi of the UAE received a red card directly for playing rough football. Playing more than people, U23 Saudi Arabia has focused on the attack to find rare more goals. However, the resilient support of the defenders on the UAE U23 side and the excellence of goalkeeper Al Mutawa made the white shirt team unable to score any more goals.

In the 90+3 minute, after attacking efforts, U23 Saudi Arabia also got the second goal after the goal of Saud Abdulhamid on the 11-meter penalty when the UAE U23 defender let the ball touch the ball. in the penalty area.

The 2-0 victory helps U23 Saudi Arabia win the top spot in Group D and will be the opponent of U23 Vietnam in the upcoming quarter-finals. Although the opponent is considered to have outstanding strength, fans can hope for our predestined relationship with the West Asian teams. Remember, at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship, coach Park Hang-seo’s army at that time defeated two West Asian teams, U23 Iraq and U23 Qatar, in the knockout rounds to write a fairy tale in Thuong Hoa. Chau that year. The quarter-final match between U23 Vietnam and U23 Saudi Arabia will take place on June 12.