Vietnam Olympic is the only representative of Southeast Asia to participate in the quarter-finals of Asiad 2018.
Thus, the round of 16 matches of the men's football event of the 2018 Asian Games has officially ended. At this time, people have determined the 4 pairs of matches in the quarterfinals.
Schedule of the quarter-finals of men's football at the 2018 Asian Games (all 4 quarter-final matches will take place on August 27).
16:00: Uzbekistan Olympics - Korea Olympics (1)
16:00: Saudi Arabia Olympics - Japan Olympics (2)
19:30: Syria Olympics - Vietnam Olympics (3)
19:30: UAE Olympics - DPRK Olympics (4)
Semi-finals (takes place on August 29).
Win pair 1 - Win pair 3
Win pair 2 - Win pair 4
In the last two matches of the 1/8 round of men's football at the 2018 Asian Games, Olympic Japan won 1-0 against Olympic Malaysia, while Olympic DPRK also won 3-1 against Olympic Bangladesh.
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| Vietnam Olympic is the only representative of Southeast Asia to participate in the quarter-finals of Asiad 2018. |
So now, the 4 pairs in the quarter-finals have been determined. In this round, Olympic Vietnam will face Olympic Syria.
This is considered a tough opponent. In this tournament, Olympic Syria has 14 players who participated in the U23 Asian Cup earlier this year, including Khaled Ibrahim, defenders Youssef Al Hamwi, Jihad Busmar, Fares Anaout, or midfielders Ahmad Ashkar, Mouhamad Anez and conductor Mouhammad Almarmour.
In this tournament, U23 Vietnam (the core of the Vietnam Olympic team) played very hard against U23 Syria. At many times, we played worse than our opponents and faced many dangerous opportunities from our opponents. Fortunately, we drew 0-0. Thanks to that, Coach Park Hang Seo's team won a ticket to the next round.
The quarter-final pair in the same bracket as Vietnam Olympic also witnessed a fateful match when Korea Olympic met Uzbekistan Olympic.
In the U23 Asian Cup, these two teams also met in the quarter-finals. In which, U23 Uzbekistan won with a score of 4-1 (after 120 minutes of play). Therefore, before this match, the Korean Olympic coach, Kim Hak-Bum, declared that he wanted to "pay back the debt" to the Central Asian representative.
In the third quarter-final, the Japanese Olympic team will face a big obstacle named the Saudi Arabia Olympic team. Although only ranked 3rd in Group F, the Gulf representative showed its strength by defeating the Chinese Olympic team (the team that won all 3 matches in the group stage).
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| Top bracket in men's football at Asiad 2018 |
Meanwhile, up to this point, the young players of the Land of the Rising Sun have not shown much. In the match against Olympic Malaysia, they also played quite hard. The playing style of Olympic Japan has not shown many remarkable features. Therefore, many experts believe that Olympic Saudi Arabia will be the biggest challenge for Olympic Japan up to this point.
The final quarter-final match saw the clash between the UAE Olympic team and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Olympic team. In the round of 16, the UAE Olympic team could only overcome the Indonesian Olympic team after a penalty shootout. Meanwhile, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Olympic team only faced a very weak opponent, the Bangladesh Olympic team.
This promises to be a balanced match between two teams with two different playing styles. While the UAE Olympic team focuses on physical strength, the DPRK Olympic team has a technical style of play.
Journey of Southeast Asian football teams at Asiad 2018:
Vietnam: After 3 wins in the group stage, we have overcome Olympic Bahrain in the round of 16. Up to this point, Olympic Vietnam has not conceded any goals. In the quarter-finals, we will face Olympic Syria.
Indonesia(Round of 16): The home team qualified for the group stage as Group A winners. However, they were unable to overcome the UAE Olympic team in the Round of 16. After 120 minutes, the two teams drew 2-2. In the end, the Indonesian Olympic team lost on penalties.
Malaysia(Round of 16): Olympic Malaysia also topped Group D. However, they lost 0-1 to Olympic Japan in the round of 16.
Thailand(group stage): Despite being a "giant" in Southeast Asia, Olympic Thailand stopped right from the group stage with 3rd place in group B with only 2 points/3 matches.
Myanmar(group stage): Despite winning 4 points in the group stage, Olympic Myanmar was still eliminated because they finished last in group F. They were only behind the other 3 teams in goal difference.
Laos(group stage): Laos only won 3 points/4 matches and was eliminated due to finishing 4th in group A.
Timor Leste(group stage): Facing very strong opponents in group C, Olympic Timor Leste lost all 3 matches against Olympic China, Olympic UAE and Olympic Syria.