AFC U23 Asian Cup - Puche: An emotional day for history-makers China PR

Jeddah: A thrilled Antonio Puche described China PR’s progress to the semi-finals of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026™ as highly emotional, with the East Asian side edging Uzbekistan 4-2 on penalties on Saturday.

Puche’s side held the Central Asian side to a goalless draw over 120 minutes in their last eight tie, and completed the job in the shoot-out with goalkeeper Li Hao again proving to be their hero as China PR advanced to the semi-finals for the first time, with Vietnam their opponents on Tuesday.

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“A very tough game for us because coming from Riyadh, we only had three days of recovery compared to Uzbekistan’s four,” said Puche.

“It is very emotional. In the life of players and coaches, there are only a few moments like these. We’re very happy with all the players because this is history for us.

“I have known some of the players for many years now and I know how hard they have worked with training camps and tournaments, so I’m very happy for them.”

With Uzbekistan swarming all over them, China PR were on defensive mode for most of the game, managing only six shots - none of which were on target - but Puche said the approach had been part of their strategy.

“Mixed (tactics and how the game panned out), because they (Uzbekistan) have good players with the ball, they are technically very sound.

“For us, it was not easy to play today in attack and defence because of the heat. It was hard to keep the level that we had shown before. It was physically impossible but the job the players did was fantastic.”

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