Losing to Japan, Iraq meets Indonesia in the third place match of the U23 Asian Cup

U23 Iraq is helpless before the power of Japan

In the quarter-finals, U23 Iraq did not play too aggressively against Vietnam and only won thanks to a penalty. When facing the continent's top opponent, Japan, in the semi-finals, the West Asian representative had no chance to create a surprise.

U23 Iraq was at a disadvantage for most of the match and conceded 2 goals in the first half. After many missed opportunities, Mao Hosoya put the "Blue Samurai" ahead with a skillful turn and shot in the penalty area in the 28th minute.

In the 42nd minute, Iraq's defense lost the ball at home. Japan seized the opportunity to launch an attack. The ball was put into Iraq's net for the second time by Araki Ryotaro, after a spectacular pass in the middle.

In the second half, U23 Japan still had the initiative. If the strikers in blue had taken better advantage of their opportunities, Iraq would have collapsed sooner. All the West Asian representative could do was hit the crossbar by Azad in the 74th minute.

Japan U23 has reached the final of the Asian tournament for the second time in history. Their opponent will be Uzbekistan. These two teams have already qualified for the Olympics.

Meanwhile, Iraq still has an important task, which is to defeat U23 Indonesia in the third-place match to win a ticket to the men's football event at the Paris Olympics.

The loser of the third-place match will play an intercontinental play-off with U23 Guinea to determine the owner of the ticket to the 2024 Olympics.