The U23 Asian Cup will be contested in the final on Friday night in Beijing, with the winner between Uzbekistan, who have already qualified for the Paris Olympics, and Japan. Prior to the match, the AFC interviewed the captains of Japan and Uzbekistan, and without exception, Fujita Jean Ruksima and Jalolidinov both expressed their confidence in the match.
Uzbekistan have reached the quarterfinals of four consecutive U23 Asian Cups, having previously finished as champions, 4th and runners-up. Uzbekistan lost to Saudi Arabia in the final of the last edition of the Cup and will be hoping to make amends in their third U23 Asian Cup final in team history.
Captain Jalolidinov, who scored the first goal against Japan in the semi-final of the last Cup, is looking to be a stopper for Japan again, saying, "Playing against Japan two years ago was a great moment in my memory and I will do everything I can to win for my team tomorrow. I have a lot of respect for them, they have a full and strong squad and tomorrow's game is sure to be a close one."
Jalolidinov believes that head coach Kapadze's rotation policy has energized the team, "We have the experience of 2022 and there are no problems with physical recovery, the rotation arranged by the coach has brought us to life and now the whole team is ready."
Despite facing an opponent that still holds a clean sheet in the tournament, and having lost their first two meetings without scoring a single goal, Japan captain Rukiakima Fujita is confident that his team can become the first two-time winners of the U23 Asian Cup in the history of the tournament.
Fujita Jean Rukima, 22, said, "I remember that we didn't do well in 2022, they were physically strong and technically very good. As far as this tournament is concerned, they are in very good form and haven't conceded a goal so far, I think tomorrow's game will be very tough, it's not easy to score goals, but we will do our best to score and win."
As the only two players on this year's Japanese team with a resume of appearances for the adult national team (the other being Shindai Hosoya), Fujita has allowed Rukiakima to contribute two assists already in this Cup, and he declared that he is ready to win the title.
Fujita told Rukiakima, "Honestly, as captain, I didn't do anything special for the team because I knew that my teammates were able to do their jobs well. I just focused on my own play and we are in very good shape now and were able to focus on presenting our best in the game."
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