5 Players who impressed at the 2016 AFC U23 Championship

But while the three nations flew off to Brazil to represent Asia at the Olympics, the competition also provided the perfect platform for the continent’s finest young players to shine.

Here we look at five of the best from the competition and how their careers have progressed since:

Takuma Asano (Japan)

Takuma Asano’s pace off the bench had given Japan coach Teguramori a potent weapon with which to unlock opposing defences late in the game, and it was a tactic that worked well in the final as Asano’s second-half brace swung the final in his nation’s favour against Korea Republic.

The former J.League Rookie of the Year continued to impress after the tournament and, by the summer of 2016, he had joined English Premier League side Arsenal, who sent him on a successful loan spell in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart. He has since also established himself in Vahid Halilhodzic’s Japan squad.

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