U23 Vietnam's opponent in the quarter-finals of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship is U23 UAE, the team that won second place in Group B. In the group stage, U23 UAE had the same 4 points as U23 Syria (1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss), but they ranked above thanks to extra points, so they surpassed their opponent to join U23 Japan (top of the group) to register their name in the quarter-finals.
According to statistics from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), U23 UAE in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Finals is currently the team with the lowest ball possession rate with only 38.8%.
The 2nd lowest among the teams participating in the tournament, after U23 Lebanon (35.9%). That is, among the 8 teams qualifying for the quarter-finals, U23 UAE is the team with the lowest ball possession rate.
However, this does not mean that U23 UAE is considered weak at this year's tournament. In fact, U23 UAE has a fairly simple playing style after the group stage, they actively play long balls to take advantage of situational transitions when the opponent is engrossed in attacking.
To do that, U23 UAE has a sufficiently solid defense to quickly resolve the opponent's attacking situations, then immediately put the ball into the front line quickly to take advantage of when the opponent has fallen into a passive position.
The aggressive, mobile playing style, abundant physical strength and especially the ability to operate independently of striker Junior Ndiaye in the attack are the mainstay for U23 UAE to be confident in their simple playing style.
Junior Ndiaye is also the name that Hieu Minh, Ly Duc and Nhat Minh in the U23 Vietnam defense need to be wary of and support each other to cover each other whenever this striker has the ball.
It's a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit.
