Men s Football Asian Cup, Indonesia has a big cold, China s 13th ranking has caused reasons, death group is inevitable

The 2025 U23 Asian Cup has come to an end. A total of 44 teams participated in the competition, divided into 11 groups, each group with the top team and 4 best-achieved teams qualify for the second place, and the third and fourth teams in the group were directly eliminated.

In the history of the U23 Asian Cup, the Japanese team has won the championship twice, the most times. Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and South Korea have won the championship once. The Chinese team's U23 Asian Cup finals were all eliminated in the group stage and have never reached the knockout round. In 2013 and 2016, they lost three consecutive games in the group. In 2018, they won the first win at home and then lost two consecutive games in the group. In 2020, they lost three consecutive games in the group. In 2022, they failed to reach the finals and were eliminated in 2024. They won 1 win and 2 losses in the group stage.

The Chinese team is in Group D with Australia, East Timor and Northern Mariana Islands in this qualifier.

In the first round of the game, the Chinese team narrowly defeated East Timor 2-1 and achieved a good start. In the second round of the match, the Chinese team faced the Northern Mariana Islands. The Chinese team defeated their opponents 10-0 and showed strong strength. In the last round of the match, the Chinese team faced the Australian team. This game is related to the qualification to qualify for the group, and both sides played very cautiously. Both sides had a chance to score in the whole game, but they failed to grasp it, and finally shook hands 0-0 to make peace. The Chinese team scored 12 goals in three games and conceded only 1 goal, finally scored 7 points and had 11 goals, becoming the second in the group with the best results and successfully advanced to the main competition.

After the Chinese team reached the tie and qualify, teams from multiple groups fought fiercely. In the match between Vietnam and Yemen, Vietnam defeated its opponent 3-1 with its excellent offensive organization; in the match between Jordan and Turkmenistan, Jordan showed strong strength and defeated its opponent 2-0; the match between Iran and the UAE was even more exciting. Iran scored two goals in the second half and finally overturned the UAE 2-1.

As the last quarter-finals team, the Indonesian team's exit in this qualifier is the biggest upset. The Indonesian team performed well in the last competition, and eliminated the South Korean team in the quarterfinals. They advanced to the semi-finals for the first time in the team's history and finally won the fourth place. In this qualifier, Indonesia scored 2 wins and 1 loss and had 6 points and 4 goals, but in the end it missed the second in the group with the best results. The country's 300 million-strong population became a spectator in the U23 Asian Cup, and this result was surprising.

At this point, all the top 16 of the main competition were released. The host Saudi Arabia automatically qualifies for the competition; the first in the 11 groups are Australia, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Syria, Qatar, Jordan and Iraq; the second in the 4 best-achieving groups are China, Uzbekistan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. After the qualifiers are over, the AFC will arrange group draws for the final stage on October 2. A total of 16 teams participated in the final round, divided into 4 groups, with the top 2 in each group advanced to the top 8, and the bottom 2 were eliminated.

According to the classification rules, the divisions in the final stage of the U23 Asian Cup are as follows: the first is Saudi Arabia (host), Uzbekistan, Japan and Iraq; the second is South Korea, Vietnam, Australia and Qatar; the third is Thailand, Jordan, the UAE and Iran; the fourth is China, Syria, Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon.

Kyrgyzstan and Lebanon are both participating in the competition for the first time, so it is not surprising that they fall into the fourth level. The Syrian team returned to the main stage after 8 years. Why is the Chinese team also listed in the last level? According to the rules of the AFC, the rating is based on the results of the past three competitions, of which the 6th competition in 2024 accounted for 100%, the 5th competition in 2022 accounted for 50%, and the 4th competition in 2020 accounted for 25%. The total scores of the above three competitions are converted into technical points and accumulated, which is the final score of the participating teams of each member association, thereby conducting a comprehensive ranking. In the end, the Chinese team ranked 13th among the 16 teams in the main competition, so they had to fall into the fourth place.

According to statistics, this is the 6th time that the Chinese team has advanced to the main stage. It has never been eliminated in the qualifiers for the previous five times and only missed the U23 Asian Cup in 2022 due to abstention. However, the best result in the main competition is No. 9 in 2024 and has never advanced to the knockout stage. This result reflects the difficulties of the Chinese team in the development of football in the U23-age age group. Although he can qualify every time in the qualifiers, he is out of the group every time in the main competition. Previously, he participated in the finals five times, and only achieved a record of 2 wins and 13 losses in 15 games, and never advanced to the knockout stage. If nothing unexpected happens in the new finals, it will face huge challenges. It is likely to become a group of points-giving boys again, so fans should not have too much hope for the Chinese team. It is inevitable that they will be in the death group.