AFC U20 Asian Cup
Haqawi, who plays his club football alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr, was instrumental in Saudi Arabia’s second win at China 2025 with the 19-year-old contributing a goal and an assist.
#AFCU20 | Group B : Saudi Arabia 2 - 1 DPR Korea
“The match was difficult, the first half we were too relaxed but after they scored their goal, we woke up,” said Haqawi. “We went back to the dressing room, we talked and we were determined to show that we can do better.
“Actually nothing much changed in terms of tactics. We just played with more confidence and closed down the spaces better in the second half and this is what made us try until we won.
“It was important that we were able to score early in the second half because that gave us even more confidence and helped push us to get the winning goal.”
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A spectacular Han Jae Yong lobbed goal in the first half had put DPR Korea in a position to pick up their first win of the tournament before Haqawi and Saudi Arabia responded in positive fashion in the second half.
After slotting Amar Al Yuhaybi’s low cross in the 51st minute, Haqawi then turned provider in the 85th minute, teeing tee up Thamer Al Khaibari to tap home the winner.
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Looking ahead to a tantalising quarter-final encounter against China PR on Saturday, Haqawi is confident that Saudi Arabia’s will be able to secure one of the four Asian spots for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Chile 2025.
“It’s the biggest step that we need to take and hopefully for the Saudi fans, we can go further. They are going to give us a difficult match for sure but we are hopeful we can go through.”
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