8 teams participating in the quarterfinals of the 2024 U23 Asian Finals include Qatar, Indonesia (group A), Korea, Japan (group B), Iraq, Saudi Arabia (group C), Uzbekistan and Vietnam (group ).
U23 Asia 2024 quarterfinals schedule
April 25: 9:00 p.m. U23 Qatar-U23 Japan
April 26: 0:30 U23 Korea – U23 Indonesia
9:00 p.m. U23 Uzbekistan-U23 Saudi Arabia
April 27: 0:30 U23 Iraq – U23 Vietnam
The match between U23 Vietnam and U23 Iraq took place at 0:30 a.m. April 27 (Vietnam time) at Al Janoub Stadium. This is also the last match of the 2024 U23 Asia quarterfinals.
The winner of the U23 Vietnam-U23 Iraq pair will meet the winner of the U23 Qatar-U23 Japan pair (opening match of the quarter-finals at 9:00 p.m. on April 25).
The U23 Korea-U23 Indonesia match will take place at 0:30 a.m. on April 26, while U23 Uzbekistan meets U23 Saudi Arabia at 9:00 p.m. on April 26. The winners of these two matches will face each other in the semi-finals.
Teams that win to enter the semi-finals of the 2024 U23 Asian Championship will have a great chance to win the right to go to France to attend the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Specifically, the three teams winning first, second and third place at this year’s U23 Asian Finals will win direct spots to France.
The fourth-placed team will participate in the play-off to face Guinea U23 Team, representative of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), to compete for the remaining spot at the Olympics.
The goals of Van Tung and Van Khang were among the best in the U23 group stage Asia
According to VNA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) recently officially announced the voting list of the top 8 best goals in the 2024 U23 Asian group stage on the official homepage.
Notably, the goals scored by Nguyen Van Tung and Khuat Van Khang of U23 Vietnam are on this list.
Nguyen Van Tung’s goal was scored in the 45+2 minute to open a 3-1 victory for U23 Vietnam against Kuwait on the opening day of Group D.
“A goal broke all the deadlock, Nguyen Van Truong’s defense-breaking pass eliminated three Kuwaiti defenders and Nguyen Van Tung ran perfectly to coolly finish and score with the outside of his head,” AFC describes Van Tung’s goal.
Meanwhile, midfielder Khuat Van Khang’s goal was scored in U23 Vietnam’s 2-0 victory over U23 Malaysia.
In that match, Khuat Van Khang made a “rainbow” free kick that eliminated the efforts of the Malaysian goalkeeper, scoring the opening goal for U23 Vietnam.
Even after witnessing this goal, AFC described Khuat Van Khang’s free kick as “as beautiful as a poem.”
“When the first half seemed to end without any goals, Khuat Van Khang broke the deadlock for U23 Vietnam with a spectacular left-footed free kick into the top corner of the goal, defeating goalkeeper Azim. Al Amin of Malaysia,” AFC wrote about Khuat Van Khang’s stunning goal.
The goals of Nguyen Van Tung and Khuat Van Khang were not only highly appreciated, but also contributed greatly to helping U23 Vietnam win the right to enter the quarterfinals of U23 Asia 2024.
Closing the group stage, U23 Vietnam won second place in Group D and will face U23 Iraq in the quarterfinals of U23 Asia 2024.
In addition to the two goals of Nguyen Van Truong and Khuat Van Khang, the top 8 best goals also include Ahmed Al Rawi, Abdullah Al Yazidi (both from Qatar), Aiman Yahya (Saudi Arabia), Alibek Davronov (Uzbekistan), Ruslan Khailoev (Tajikistan) and Witan Sulaeman (Indonesia).
