In the quarter-final match against Uzbekistan U23, China U23 won after a tense penalty shootout. This marks the first time in history that China U23 has reached the semi-finals of the AFC U23 Asian Championship .
The player who contributed most to China's miraculous achievement was goalkeeper Li Hao. He made 8 saves, keeping his team standing throughout the nail-biting 120 minutes against Uzbekistan's U23 team. Particularly in the penalty shootout, the 21-year-old goalkeeper, who plays for Qingdao West Coast, dived in the right direction, blocking Dirshod's shot and securing a 4-2 victory for China's U23 team.
In the semi-finals, Li Hao boasts statistics unmatched by any other goalkeeper in this year's tournament. He has kept a clean sheet in all four matches, successfully saving 100% of his 24 shots, and topping the list of goalkeepers with the most saves in the tournament. Chinese media have even hailed Li Hao as a "legendary goalkeeper".
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien also received much praise after his outstanding performance at the 2026 AFC U23 Asian Championship, especially the victory against U23 Saudi Arabia in the group stage. Since the beginning of the tournament, the HAGL goalkeeper has made 12 saves, the second highest in the competition. He also only conceded 3 goals in 4 tense matches against strong opponents.
Trung Kien's number of saves was less than half that of Li Hao because of the different defensive systems of the Vietnam U23 and China U23 teams. While the Vietnam U23 team played proactively and flexibly, readily pushing forward to attack, the China U23 team played defensively, even passively. This created the conditions for Li Hao to showcase his skills and shine.
In other statistics, Trung Kien had 9 successful catches and 1 successful punch, while Li Hao had 3 and 0 respectively. The Chinese U23 goalkeeper made 4 clearances, while the Vietnamese U23 goalkeeper made 3. Trung Kien completed 109 passes, Li Hao 100. Li Hao's pass accuracy was 56%, while Trung Kien's was 54.1%.
The performance of Trung Kien and Li Hao is one of the decisive factors in the semi-final match between Vietnam U23 and China U23. Whichever team wins and advances to the final, their goalkeeper will almost certainly win the Best Goalkeeper award.
The semi-final match between Vietnam U23 and China U23 will kick off at 10:30 PM on January 20th at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Stadium in Saudi Arabia.
Watch the entire 2026 AFC U23 Asian Championship Finals on TV360 at https://tv360.vn
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/man-so-gang-thu-vi-giua-thu-mon-trung-kien-va-li-hao-o-ban-ket-2482868.html
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