The Peninsula
Qatar will go into their final Group B match of the AFC U20 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2023 with the hope of gaining a crucial win against Australia when the two teams meet at JAR Stadium Tashkent, Uzbekistan today.
Qatar head into the game having lost both of their opening matches but still harbouring slim hopes of advancing to the next phase.
A win over the Australians coupled with a Vietnamese victory against the Iranians could allow Qatar to progress, with second berth in the quarter-finals behind Vietnam determined by the other teams’ records against one another.
“After two losses in the tournament we have one more match to show what we’re capable of,” Qatar head coach Inaki Abadia said ahead of the must-win game.
“We prepared well against Vietnam but it didn’t go according to our plan.
“We got into good scoring positions but were not successful in converting our chances. We hope to perform better in our final game against Australia,” Abadia said.
His opposite number, Australia coach Trevor Morgan is confident his Young Socceroos can build on their win over Iran when they take on Al Annabi juniors, knowing victory is likely to take his side into the quarter-finals.
Morgan and his team have moved from Fergana to Tashkent for their final Group B match and, after kicking off with a 1-0 loss against Vietnam, the Australians are looking for a second successive win to follow up their 3-2 victory over the Iranians on Matchday Two.
“After the Iran match the players have recovered very well,” said Morgan.
“We have excellent staff and we have great facilities at the hotel and the boys are ready.
“In these tournaments it’s important to work one match at a time. As we have for the other matches, we’ve prepared to win. That’s our job, to win every match we play and we’re ready to go.”
The Australians dominated against Vietnam only to slip to a loss following Nguyen Quoc Viet’s early goal from distance, but Morgan’s team responded with a strong showing against the Iranians, with Adrian Segicic scoring twice in a thrilling clash at Istiqlol Stadium.
“I thought it was a great response from the team,” he said. “They had a setback on the first day and the response mentally, technically, physically to win that game against Iran just shows what the squad’s capable of and we think we can improve every day.”
Victory over Qatar would move Australia onto six points and that win coupled with either a draw or victory for Vietnam against the Iranians would take both nations through.
An Iranian win in addition to an Australian victory, however, would see the three nations sit level on points and the two quarter-finals berths would be determined on their head-to-head records.