Olympic qualifiers / AFC U-23 Championship

[nzfooty]

This is a new competition.

The 2015 tournament will double as the 2016 Olympic qualifiers. However, the 2013 edition (which is still being played)
does not double as Olympic qualifiers.

Link to the AFC page.

The 2012 Olympic qualifiers thread here.

[nzfooty]

2013 AFC U-22 Championship (does not double as Olympic qualifiers).

(Wiki) Link to the qualification stages here.

(Wiki) Link to the finals (in Oman) here.

Semi-finals

South Korea 0–1 Iraq
Jordan 1–3 Saudi Arabia

3rd place match

25 January
Jordan v South Korea

Final

26 January
Saudi Arabia v Iraq

[nzfooty]

Jordan defeated South Korea 3-2 on penalties after the third place match finished 0-0. Iraq are the winners of the "2013" edition having defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final.

2016 Olympic Qualifiers
(double as the 2015 AFC U-22 Championship)

Scheduled to take place from 9-21 February 2015. The top 3 teams will qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

This is possibly a significant change. Under the old system, the final stage consisted of groups and a loss here or there was not fatal. Under this new system,
one slip-up in the quarter-finals and you are gone.

[nzfooty]

Dates for this tournament have changed to 12–30 January 2016 (to be held in Qatar).
The tournament is now also classified as an u-23 rather than a u-22 competition.
However, the qualifiers have been already played.

South Korea qualified for this tournament by beating Brunei 5-0, beating East Timor 3-0
and then defeating Indonesia 4-0 in Jakarta. Indonesia's heavy loss meant they didn't
qualify as one of the best runners-up.

Soccerway link to the results.
Wiki link to the results.
AFC link to the results.

Qualified teams:


Qatar

Syria
Iraq

Jordan
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Yemen


Iran
Uzbekistan

South Korea
North Korea
China
Japan

Thailand
Vietnam

Australia

[nzfooty]

2016 Olympic Qualifiers
(double as the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship)

Olympic qualifiers are being played right now (as a tournament): wiki link here.

South Korea, Japan and Iraq are the first three teams to make the quarter-finals.

Teams need to finish in the medal places to qualify for the Olympics.

This means one bad day in the quarter-finals and you are out. A bit different to how things used to be done (pools with home and away matches meaning one or two loses were not necessarily fatal - basically same structure as in World Cup qualifiers).

The way things are shaping up it will be Sth Korea v Australia /// Japan v Iran in the quarters. Tasty.

[changwonmatty]

Been watching a bit...South Korea look the business. Aussies do not.

[nzfooty]

Been watching a bit...South Korea look the business. Aussies do not.

You weren't wrong there: a loss against UAE meant that Australia had to beat Jordan on the last day. However, it ended 0-0 and they have been eliminated (finishing 3rd in their group).

Interestingly, Australia accumulated more points than North Korea who managed to squeak through in the second place with a record of 0-2-1. So did Saudi Arabia and Thailand. In the end they were separated by number of goals in their head-to-head matches; North Korea: 5 goals, Saudi Arabia: 4 goals, Thailand: 3 goals.

Tables here.

Path to the final:
Qatar v Nth Korea (22 Jan) will play winner of South Korea v Jordan (23 Jan)
Japan v Iran (22 Jan) will play winner UAE v Iraq (23 Jan)

Top-3 qualify for the Olympics

[eujin]

It breaks my heart to hear that Australia will not qualify for the Olympics yet again (not that going back to the OFC would necessarily help). Curiously enough I was having a nightmare last night that Australia were suddenly good at rugby and I was having to explain to two American friends why I was not happy about that.

[nzfooty]

It breaks my heart to hear that Australia will not qualify for the Olympics yet again (not that going back to the OFC would necessarily help). Curiously enough I was having a nightmare last night that Australia were suddenly good at rugby and I was having to explain to two American friends why I was not happy about that.

Yes, they didn't do particularly well in the qualifiers for 2012:

Code: Select all

1.UAE           6  4  2  0  8- 2 14
 2.Uzbekistan    6  2  2  2  7- 5  8
 3.Iraq          6  1  2  3  2- 7  5
 4.Australia     6  0  4  2  0- 3  4


I think that broke a run of 5 straight qualifications.

Australia does seem to be under-performing at the youth/junior level these days. Say, for contrast look to 1999 (for example) when I remember them losing to Brazil on penalties in the final of the 1999 u17 World Cup played in NZ.

[changwonmatty]

I watched all the Aussie qualifiers and they looked weak going forward but very solid at the back. In saying that, the game against Jordan in second half injury time they hit the crossbar where only about 1cm lower it would have gone in and they would have been through.

As for SK...wont be surprised if they win it all.

[eujin]

I think that broke a run of 5 straight qualifications.

Were they all from the OFC?

[nzfooty]

I think that broke a run of 5 straight qualifications.

Were they all from the OFC?

In 2008 they qualified from Asia. In 2004 they qualified from the OFC, 2000 they were hosts, 1996 via OFC but also had to play Canada in a paly-off, in 1992 via OFC but defeated the Netherlands in the play-offs (they finished 4th in the olympics, losing to Ghana in the bronze medal match), in 1988 via OFC (though at the time that meant playing Israel and Taiwan).
In 1984 they did not participate - NZ did and had to play in the AFC qualifiers. So 6 straight qualifications, one as hosts.

[nzfooty]

Japan 3–0 (a.e.t.) Iran
Qatar 2–1 (a.e.t.) North Korea
South Korea 1–0 Jordan
United Arab Emirates 1–3 (a.e.t.) Iraq

Semis:
26 January
Japan v Iraq
Qatar v South Korea

Top-3 qualify for the Olympics

[SteveW]

The Aussie U-23s are so bad that one of the squad has joined Aberdeen. Goalie Aaron Lennox seems to be either on trial or signed as of today.

[MipoFanatic]

Qatar 1-3 South Korea

South Korea scored in the midst of the second half, but gave up an equalizer with just minutes to go. But Korea pulled ahead in what appeared to be the 89th minute, and then scored a third during the five minutes of stoppage time.

That's South Korea qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics in men's football.