In the early morning of January 14, U23 UAE and U23 Syria drew 1-1 in the last match of Group B of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship Finals. Although only winning 1 point, this result was enough to help U23 UAE reach the quarter-finals of this year's tournament.
Accordingly, the West Asian representative has 4 points after the group stage, including 1 win, 1 loss and 1 draw. They are tied in points with U23 Syria but better than their opponent in goal difference (-1 compared to -4), thereby moving on to second place in Group B.
U23 UAE is the opponent of U23 Vietnam in the upcoming quarter-final match. Coach Kim Sang-sik's team entered the knockout round with an impressive journey with a total victory record in the group stage, winning all 9 points after 3 matches against U23 Jordan (2-0), U23 Kyrgyzstan (2-1) and U23 Saudi Arabia (1-0).
In addition to convincingly winning a ticket to continue, U23 Vietnam also showed clear progress in playing style and fighting spirit. Therefore, the match with U23 UAE promises to bring exciting developments.
Previously, coach Kim Sang-sik and his colleagues directly came to the stadium to watch U23 UAE play. The Korean strategist closely followed the dien bien of the match, from the way the squad was deployed, the ability to compete to situations of changing positions. These are all important factors in building a plan to prepare for the upcoming quarter-finals.
According to the schedule, the 2026 AFC U23 Championship quarter-final match between U23 Vietnam and U23 UAE will take place at 10:30 PM on January 16.
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