Meeting U23 Iraq, U23 Vietnam continues 'flower dream'?
(Baonghean.vn) - After losing to U23 Uzbekistan in the final match of Group D, Quan Van Chuan and his teammates will face U23 Iraq in the quarter-finals.
Despite being crushed by U23 Uzbekistan with a score of 0-3, coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team still did not feel sad or disappointed. Because with the above result, U23 Vietnam avoided the highly rated opponent, the reigning champion U23 Saudi Arabia.
Meeting U23 Iraq will help U23 Vietnam have more opportunities to advance further in this year's tournament. Through 3 matches in the group stage, it can be seen that U23 Iraq is not a very dangerous opponent when possessing quite a few truly quality faces in the squad.
In addition, the achievements of U23 Iraq recently have also been very modest. Since winning the championship in 2013 and finishing third in 2016, U23 Iraq have not been present in the semi-finals of the tournament in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
It should be noted that at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship held in Changzhou (China), U23 Iraq was the opponent of U23 Vietnam. In the quarter-final match, coach Park Hang-seo and his team excellently defeated U23 Iraq after a fateful penalty shootout.
Now U23 Vietnam will face U23 Iraq in the quarter-finals, but in Qatar. Similar to the 2018 tournament, U23 Iraq is still the "upper hand" team. However, in football, the team that is rated higher does not always win the final match.
"Memories of Changzhou" is the basis for coach Hoang Anh Tuan and his team to be confident about a positive result against U23 Iraq in the upcoming match, taking place at 0:30 on April 27 (Vietnam time). Will the miracle be repeated with our team?