Uzbekistan defeated Vietnam 3-0 at the Khalifa International Stadium Sunday, demonstrating that they will be a formidable squad in the AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 knockout round.
Uzbekistan scored three goals in the first half of their campaign, capping their Group D campaign with a perfect nine points. The 2018 winners.
Tomorrow, they take on the reigning champions Saudi Arabia in the quarterfinals, while Vietnam—who also advanced despite the loss—will face Iraq.
With one game remaining, Vietnam and Uzbekistan had already secured their spots in the quarterfinals. Hoang Anh Tuan, the head coach of Vietnam, rotated his team, making eight changes to the starting lineup. The players, Abdukodir Khusanov and Ibrokhimkhalil Yuldoshev, were released by their respective Russian and French clubs.
Uzbekistan took the lead in the fourth minute and quickly established their dominance over the Central Asian team.
Jasurbek Jaloliddinov started the move by feeding Ibrokim Ibragimov a well timed ball. Ibrokim Ibragimov broke the offside trap to set up Alisher Odilov, who finished with a close-range tap-in.
In the 20th minute, Vietnam attempted to respond and had a chance for a counterattack, but Nguyen Minh Quang missed the mark when he chose to shoot instead of passing to Vo Nguyen Hoang after intercepting a ball from Muhammadkodir Hamraliev.
The runners-up from 2018 put up more resistance, but in the 36th minute, Ruslanbek Jiyanov broke clear of the defense to receive a long-range free kick and finished with a spectacular strike into the bottom-left corner.
Odilov doubled his goal four minutes later, heading home Saidazamat Mirsaidov’s cross to give Uzbekistan a comfortable lead at halftime.
Coach Hoang sent on four new players in an attempt to inspire a second-half comeback, but Vietnam stayed on the defensive as they struggled to overcome Uzbekistan’s constant pressure.
As the game went on, Vietnam got more aggressive, but Uzbekistan had the best chance to score when Ibragimov and replacement Diyor Kholmatov were stopped by the upright in the 74th and 84th minutes, respectively.
Kuwait’s winning conclusion
Kuwait defeated Malaysia 2-1 in their last Group D game Sunday to earn their first-ever victory at the.
Prior to the game, both sides had already been eliminated, but Kuwait’s victory allowed them to go on a positive note, while Malaysia returned home empty-handed for the second time in a row.
Before the 20-minute mark, Malaysia had created two chances. First, Luqman Hakim found the back of the net but it was ruled offside. Then, Daryl Sham forced Kuwaiti defender Khalid Alfadhli into a block to save his side-footed attempt.
Salman Mohammed’s free kick after 30 minutes forced Malaysian goalkeeper Sikh Izhan Nazrel to be cautious with his ball handling as Kuwait weathered the early onslaught and began to ask questions of the Malaysian defense.
The game changed dramatically just before the half, as Sikh Izhan was sent off for a straight red card after colliding head-on with Salman while he was trying to clear the ball.
In the 14th minute of additional time, referee Alexander King gave Kuwait a penalty for a foul by Umar Hakeem on Talal Alqaisi.
Salman easily converted the penalty past replacement goalkeeper Firdaus Irman, making things worse for Malaysia. Even though they were playing with one player less, Malaysia came out on top in the second half. They got past Kuwait’s defense with a pass from Haqimi down the right, but Faisal Alshatti made an incredible last-ditch clearance to stop the ball from getting to Mukhairi Ajmal.
On the hour mark, Kuwait extended their advantage when Sultan Alfaraj, a replacement who had just been on the field for a few seconds, found the ideal cross for Alqaisi to head home. After Nooa Laine made a long diagonal ball to Haqimi, the Kuala Lumpur City FC attacker smashed his low shot past Abdulrahman three minutes later to cut the score for Malaysia.
After striker Salman was given a straight red card for a reckless attack on Umar in the 84th minute, Kuwait lost their numerical advantage. However, they managed to hold off Malaysia until the very end to win.
