Alkass Digital
Both the United Arab Emirates and China PR will continue their quest for goals and points when they square off on Monday at the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024™.
Having each lost their first two matches in Group B to Japan and Korea Republic, neither side will be able to advance to the next stage and have only pride to play for at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium.
While this will be their first meeting in tournament history, they played out a 0-0 stalemate in qualification and Marcelo Broli is determined for his charges to come away with victory this time.
To do that, UAE will have to figure out how to trouble the opposition goal more often, having accumulated 10 shots so far - with only one on target - from their losses to Japan (2-0) and Korea Republic (1-0).
“Of course, we will be preparing to win against China PR because we want to at least register one win in this tournament,” said the 46-year-old, who took the reins in February after leading his native Uruguay to the FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina 2023 crown.
“We will check on our players to see who can partake in the game and we will be working on our gameplan (to play) against China.”
Cheng Yaodong’s men are similarly looking to find the back of the net for the first time - not just at this tournament but in six matches, with the last time they scored coming in a 3-0 win against Oman in their final group game at the 2018 edition.
China PR, who have now failed to progress to the knockout stage in each of their five participations at the AFC U23 Asian Cup, went goalless in their three games in 2020 and were not involved in the 2022 iteration.
Finishing off their chances has been the main issue for the East Asians and Cheng has opted to encourage his side as they search for only their second ever win at the tournament.
“We will tell the players to never give up in any match and still do their best in the next game, as this is the U23 Asian Cup and a prestigious tournament,” the 56-year-old said..
“Even though we lost both games so far, the players did not lose in (terms of) their mentality (as they gave their all) and we hope to build on the positives from these two matches for the final match, to make more chances and try to win.”