Young Garuda Looking At The U23 Asian Cup Semifinals: Achieve Indonesian Football Dreams To Qualify For The 2024 Olympics

"Semifinals, we came" when uploaded by PSSI Chairman Erick Thohir shortly after the U23 Indonesian national team defeated South Korea (South Korea) in the 2024 U23 Asian Cup quarter-finals, Friday (26/4/2024) early morning WIB.

The sweet story of Indonesia in the U23 Asian Cup continues, after Shin Tae-yong's team eliminated South Korea through a dramatic match at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium.

Rafael Struick scored a pair of goals for Garuda Muda, but the match had to continue into extra time after South Korea twice responded, each via Komang Teguh's suicide and Jeong Sang-bin's kick.

The 2-2 draw lasted until 2x15 minutes ended, even though South Korea played with 10 people following Lee Young-jun's red card in the 70th minute.

In the penalty shootout, Indonesia finally won with a score of 11-10 out of 12 opportunities given to each team.

The struggle of the entire team on the field is extraordinary. Don't be afraid against South Korea, winning twice and winning successfully on penalties. This is the mentality of Indonesia, big guts and continuing to try to find victory. Semifinals, we came," said Erick Thohir on his Instagram account.

This result is not an ordinary victory for Indonesia. Coming as a debutant team at the U23 Asian Cup, Rizky Ridho and colleagues were not seeded to go far even though the federation set a target of qualifying for the last eight. More than that, the success of bringing South Korea home early means bringing the Red and White opportunity closer to the 2024 Olympics. Indonesia only needs one more victory to seal a ticket to Paris.

Summer Olympics, or better known as the Olympics, are the biggest multi-international sporting events to be held once every four years. Modern Olympics were first held in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and most recently held in Tokyo in 2021.

Among a number of sports being competed, football is one of the most popular in the Olympics.

Men's soccer is always competed in every Olympics, except in 1896 during the first edition and 1932 when the World Cup was first held. Meanwhile, new women's soccer officially entered the 1996 Atalanta Olympics.

However, to avoid competition with the World Cup, FIFA limits the participation of elite Olympic players. Currently, the Olympic squad for football must be filled with players under the age of 23, with three exceptions allowed. Indonesia itself in its history has never qualified for the Olympics.

So, no wonder if the victory over South Korea is welcomed by the joy of the whole community. Although only age group matches and not included in the FIFA calendar, Olympic football remains a prestigious event for players. Not infrequently world stars are born from this event. Call it Andrea Pirlo, Daniele De Rossi, even Lionel Messi had insisted on releasing Barcelona to participate in defending Argentina at the 2008 Olympics, where he won a gold medal.

As a semifinalist, the national team's chance to step up the Olympics for the first time is wide open. The STY squad only needed one more win to make sure to go to Paris automatically.

The Olympic football will be attended by 16 teams, including the host France, consisting of six confederations. For the remaining 15 slots, it will be contested by Asian and African confederations, each receiving 3.5 slots, Europe with three slots, Central America and South America with two slots, and Oceania with one slot.

To date, the entire confederation zone has confirmed their representatives to appear in the Olympics, except for Asia which will still be determined from the U23 Asian Cup tournament.

Indonesia is still waiting for the winner of the Uzbekistan match against Saudi Arabia to become their opponent in the top four. If they win and qualify for the final round, Garuda Muda will certainly finish in Paris this summer.

The winners of the U23 Asian Cup dangner-up will later be placed in Group D and C of the Olympics. Group D has been filled with Paraguay, Mali, and Israel, while Group C is inhabited by Spain, Egypt, and the Dominican Republic.

If Indonesia's steps stop in the semifinals, Pratama Arhan et al still have a chance to qualify directly, on the condition that they win the third place. The third position of the U-23 Asian Cup will accompany the first and second place winners, and be placed in Group B with Argentina, Morocco, and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, if you lose in the third position, Indonesia must win the playoff match against the fourth-placed representative of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations, Guinea, on May 9.

"We have reached the semifinals and one step away from being able to appear in the Olympics. Let's continue this struggle. The spirit of Garuda Muda," said Erick Thohir again.