Hope Positive Energy From The 2023 SEA Games Brings The Indonesian National Team To The 2024 U-23 Asian Cup Finals

The U-23 Indonesian national team. (Photo: Twitter/@PSSI)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team has avoided the hell group in the U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers. Indonesia, which will host Group K, will face Turkmenistan and Taiwan.

PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir assesses that the strength in Asia is quite evenly distributed. For this reason, the U-23 Indonesian national team must prepare themselves carefully in order to be able to penetrate the final round.

"The results of the group draw, we together with Turkmenistan and Taiwan. Because the current map of football competition in Asia is balanced, especially in the age group, whoever the opponent is, preparations must be maximized," said Erick.

"I am optimistic that the good Indonesian football atmosphere after winning the SEA Games gold will provide positive energy to achieve the best results so that it can qualify for the final round," he added, as reported by PSSI's official website.

Apart from Indonesia, the AFC also appointed ten other countries to host the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers. The ten countries are Bahrain, China, Jordan, South Korea, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

The group qualifying phase will be held from September 4 to 12 which is attended by 43 teams and divided into 11 groups.

Eleven group winners and four best runners-up will qualify for the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup finals which will take place from 15 April to 3 May 2024 in Qatar.

The host Qatar will fulfill the number of participants in the final round to 16 teams. The 2024 U-23 Asian Cup is also a qualifying round for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.

"If in the previous U-23 Asian Cup we didn't qualify, it would be realistic if this time the target was to win a ticket to the finals. The status of the host must really be utilized. I hope that fans will flood the stadium and provide maximum support when the national team plays at home," said Erick.

In the 2022 U-23 Asian Cup, the U-23 national team was unable to advance to the finals. The national team lost 2-3 and 0-1 to Australia in two matches.

The resignation of the Chinese and Brunei Darussalam national teams in Group G in the qualifying phase also affected the U-23 national team, so that only Australia advanced to the final round from that group.