U23 Jordan is still shocked by losing to U23 Vietnam
In the opening match, U23 Jordan lost to U23 Vietnam 0-2. Meanwhile, the host U23 Saudi Arabia defeated U23 Kyrgyzstan 1-0. If they continue to win, U23 Saudi Arabia will have an early ticket to the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, U23 Jordan needs a victory, does not want to be eliminated early.
We have prepared for every situation, but honestly, this is the most unexpected thing for us. However, we still have to continue and strive to overcome our mistakes.
U23 Vietnam's goals all came from set pieces, which is quite unusual for us. Usually we don't concede many goals from such situations. We haven't focused 100%, and that's what we need to solve.
Perhaps this is a warning. In football, nothing is impossible. We will fight our best, dedicate everything and play to win in the next two matches," Omar Nahji recalled about the defeat to U23 Vietnam.
Meanwhile, head coach Luigi Di Biagio of U23 Saudi Arabia, although satisfied with the team's resilient fighting spirit against U23 Kyrgyzstan, still wants his students to be more sharp in the match against Jordan.
He said: "We need to improve our playing style and stability. The players did not lose patience and we won an important victory. They played with high intensity, showing a very good performance.
However, we encountered a bit of difficulty after Kyrgyzstan had only 10 people on the field. We missed a penalty and needed to be more accurate and continue to improve.
In the past year and a half, we have shown that we have the ability to play good football stably, but it is clear that we can and must improve further. We have played well and need to continue in this direction”.
Statistics
The only previous encounter between U23 Jordan and U23 Saudi Arabia at the AFC U23 Championship ended in a 2-2 draw on January 10, 2018.
U23 Jordan is in a 3-game losing streak at this tournament, including the defeat to U23 Vietnam. Previously, U23 Jordan had never lost the opening match of the AFC U23 Championship in previous participations (2 wins, 3 draws).
U23 Saudi Arabia won the opening match of the AFC U23 Championship for the fourth consecutive time, after defeating U23 Kyrgyzstan 1-0. A victory over U23 Jordan will help them win both of their first group stage matches in this arena for the second time, after the first time in 2024.
U23 Jordan has conceded 8 goals in the last 3 matches at the AFC U23 Asian Cup. Only three teams have a record of conceding more goals in the tournament history: U23 Malaysia - 7 matches from January 2018 to April 2024; U23 Tajikistan - 5 matches from June 2022 to April 2024 and U23 Vietnam - 4 matches from January 2016 to January 2018.
The U23 Saudi Arabia vs U23 Jordan match will take place at 11:30 PM on January 9.
