SYDNEY (22 Jan 2020) – Australia will battle Uzbekistan for the final spot to the Olympics 2020 Japan after each team lost their respective semifinals matches at the AFC U23 Championship.
Australia fell to a 2-0 loss to South Korea with Kim Dae-won stroking in the ball in the 56th minute after it had come off the woodwork while twenty minutes later; Lee Dong-gyeong rounded things off for the second goal.
Uzbekistan – the 2018 champions – were dumped out after falling to a 1-0 to Saudi Arabia with the only goal of the game coming in four minutes to the end off Abdullah Al Hamdan.
The fight for third place and a spot for Japan 2020 will be played on Saturday at the Rajamangala Stadium.
“We will show the Aussie spirit of fighting (in the next game). I said to the boys after the game: great effort, we did well in patches but that game is over now and there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Australia head coach Graham Arnold.
