This Is A Condition For Marselino Ferdinand Cs To Qualify For The 2023 U-20 Asian Cup

Indonesian National Team midfielder. (Photo: Instagram @pssi)

JAKARTA - The opportunity for the Indonesian U-20 national team to reach the 2023 U-20 Asian Cup finals is open. Three paths can pass through Indonesia.

One ticket for the final round was automatically won by Indonesia or Vietnam who met in the last match of Group F at the Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium (GBT), Surabaya, Sunday 18 September tomorrow.

Both teams are currently six points away after winning their first two matches. The difference in goals between the two is the same.

However, Indonesia is entitled to the top position in the standings because it is ahead of the disciplinary points. Discipline points are calculated based on the number of yellow cards/red cards received by each team.

Currently, Indonesia's disciplinary point is minus two (-2) because two yellow cards were received. Meanwhile, Vietnam's disciplinary points were minus three (-3) due to the three yellow cards obtained.

Seeing this situation, both Indonesia and Vietnam must aim for victory in the last match tomorrow to automatically qualify because they are group winners.

However, problems will arise if both teams play in the draw in the last match. A draw makes Indonesia and Vietnam definitely still have the same points and goal difference.

If referring to the problem solver, the tiebreak will be applied to find group winners. However, Indonesia and Vietnam have identical 4-0 and 5-1 wins over Timor Leste and Hong Kong.

Therefore, the reference head-to-head points, goal difference, and the number of goals between the teams that are balanced in the tiebreak are certain to fall. Then the difference in goals and the number of goals in all matches will be the same.

In the seventh point of the tiebreak rule, the two teams that could not determine the group winner after the above conditions were implemented, the penalty shootout was likely to be held.

The main condition for the penalty shootout is if only two teams draw and they meet in the final round of the group. This is exactly what Vietnam and Indonesia are currently facing.

Indonesia still has a chance to qualify for the finals if they lose or tiebreak. As is known, there are five best teams as runners-up who will continue their steps to accompany the group's 10 winners.

However, the path of qualifying as runner-up is much more complicated. Indonesia must compete with other runners-ups from nine groups.