Vietnam U23 team is full of enthusiasm heading into the semi-final match against China U23 - Photo: AFC
At 10:30 PM today (January 20th), Vietnam U23 will face China U23 in the semi-finals of the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Championship.
Before the match, the AFC's official website predicted that this semi-final would be an extremely tense clash between two opposing teams. While the Vietnam U23 team had impressed with four consecutive wins, the China U23 team had struggled every step of the way to reach the semi-finals for the first time.
For the first time in history
The AFC emphasized that this is the first time the Vietnam U23 and China U23 teams have faced each other in an AFC U23 Asian Championship finals. History is on both sides when it comes to facing "new opponents". China U23 is unbeaten in their last three encounters with a new opponent (two wins, one draw).
Meanwhile, the Vietnam U23 team has won both of their last two matches against teams they were meeting for the first time in the tournament.
"Strong offense" combined with "solid defense"
The Vietnam U23 team is in devastating form, having won all four matches played in this year's tournament. This number equals the total number of wins we achieved in our previous five appearances in the tournament combined.
In particular, coach Kim Sang Sik's players scored 8 goals, equaling their own best-scoring record at the 2018 tournament (the year Vietnam finished as runners-up).
In contrast, the Chinese U23 team are "masters" of pragmatism. They have had three goalless draws in this year's tournament. This is a record for the number of 0-0 draws by a team in a single tournament.
Even more astonishingly, Antonio Puche's team kept a perfect clean sheet in all four of their semi-final appearances (previously they had only kept a clean sheet once in 15 matches).
The challenge from "Spider-Man" Li Hao
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has drawn particular attention to the Vietnamese U23 attack, focusing on Chinese goalkeeper Li Hao. This goalkeeper has made 24 saves, the highest number of saves by any goalkeeper in the last four AFC U23 Championships.
Goalkeeper Li Hao will pose a major challenge for the Vietnam U23 attack - Photo: AFC
Among the goalkeepers who faced more than 5 shots on target, Li Hao was the only one to maintain a 100% save rate.
Furthermore, the match is expected to be very intense in aerial duels. Only Peng Xiao of China (23 times) has made more header clearances than the Vietnamese central defensive duo of Nguyen Hieu Minh (20 times) and Pham Ly Duc (18 times).
They are the only pair of teammates to have both achieved over 15 aerial saves in the last four tournaments.
If they win, Vietnam U23 will reach the Asian U23 Championship final for the second time in history, while China U23 will reach the final match for the first time.
Back to the topic
THANH DINH
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/afc-chi-ra-loat-thong-ke-thu-vi-truc-tran-u23-viet-nam-voi-u23-trung-quoc-20260120010803202.htm
Comment (0)