Saudi Arabia coach: 'We collapsed Australia'
"The opponent is very strong, but with the tactics that put continuous pressure at a height, we create a lot of difficulties and then caused Australia to collapse," Saudi Arabia said at the press conference after the match on Pakhtakor. "But I'm not too happy to win, but just satisfied with the football team performing. I want to thank the players because they have strictly complied with the legal training committee before the battle."
Saudi Arabia entered the game slowly, repelling some of Australia's speed -rich balls. The West Asian team then opened the 21 -minute score with a formal combination. The Al-Buraikan striker held the ball on the left wing, went down to the bottom of the border and then passed up to Hussein al-Eisa to end one touch.
Loi added more to play more than the 39th minute, after Australian center-back Jay Rich-Baghuelou received a red card for making a mistake with Ayman Yahya, helping Saudi Arabia to control the game. They created many opportunities and concretized the second table in the 72nd minute, when Yahya from the second gland to finish after the stretching line of Al-Buraikan.
In the whole game, Saudi Arabia only let Australia finish six times. Among them, once the ball missed the goal-Rami Najarin's penalty was saved by goalkeeper Chamari in the 9th minute of injury time in the second half. In the 31st minute, captain Tyrese Francois's volley hit the Saudi Arabian crossbar again. Al-Sehri's forces have thus extended their record of clean sheets in the Asian U23 final, without conceding a goal in five matches in Uzbekistan this year.
"We just tried to focus on defense. With Allah's support, that effort paid off," the 42-year-old replied about the secret to keeping the zero seal.
Victory over Australia brings Saudi Arabia to the Asian U23 finals for the third time. On the first two occasions, they lost to Iraq in 2013 and South Korea in 2020. "Now we will look forward to the final and will do our best to win this game," Al-Sehri added.
In the final held on June 19, Saudi Arabia will play host Uzbekistan - the 2-0 Japanese winning team in the remaining semi -final.
Meanwhile, coach Trevor Morgan was disappointed with the way Australia lost. The military leader said that the turning point of the match was the red card of center-back Rich-Baghuelou. "The score does not reflect exactly what the two teams perform. Australia is not worth losing like that," he said.
The 2-0 defeat left Australia unable to make it beyond the semi-finals at the Asian U23 Championship. They now aim to stay third in total as they did in the 2020 Thailand Championship-and they beat Uzbekistan 1-0 in the bronze medal race.
