Semifinalist For The 2024 U-23 Asian Cup, Indonesia Is The Only Southeast Asian Team

Indonesia U-23 became the only Southeast Asian team in the semifinals of the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup (doc. AFC).

The four teams have confirmed tickets for the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup semifinals. Iraq U-23 is the last team to be the last four followed by Japan U-23, Indonesia U-23, and Uzbekistan U-23.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on its official website said that the sixth edition of the U-23 Asian Cup gave birth to a surprise.

Indonesia U-23 appeared surprising as a debutant by being able to penetrate the top four. Garuda Muda is not predicted to make it this far compared to the other three teams.

Japan U-23, Iraq U-23, and Uzbekistan U-23 are teams that have never been absent from participating in the six editions of the U-23 Asian Cup.

In fact, the three of them are five teams that have won the U-23 Asian Cup.

Japan U-23 won in 2016 and won third in 2022.

Then, Uzbekistan U-23 won the 2018 edition before winning runners-up in 2022 and ranked fourth in 2020.

Lastly, Iraq U-23 was the winner in its debut edition in 2013. They also won third place in 2016.

Seeing the contestants who appeared in the top four, explained Indonesia U-23 was a surprise. Moreover, Garuda Muda's appearance to the semifinals was beyond the predictions of other participants.

Shin Tae-yong's team lost controversially against Qatar U-23 (0-2) in the inaugural Group A match.

However, they got up and beat the strong Australian teams (1-0) and Jordan (4-1) to qualify for the knockout stages as group runners-up.

The surprise did not stop. Garuda Muda is still continuing its journey in the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup by silencing South Korea U-23 in the quarter-finals on penalties (11-10) after playing a 2-2 draw until the extra round.

Shin Tae-yong even dared to spread threats that he believed his team could compete in the race for the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup trophy after being able to get past the giants.

Indonesia U-23 is now the only Southeast Asian team that can penetrate the semifinals. Other ASEAN representatives, Thailand U-23 and Malaysia U-23, have even died in the group stage.

Meanwhile, Vietnam U-23 was eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing to Iraq U-23 with a score of 0-1 through Ali Jasim's single goal.

The four teams competing in the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup semifinals have the opportunity to appear at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

However, automatic tickets to France are available for only the top three. The fourth-ranked team is actually still likely to go to the 2024 Paris Olympics, but has to win in the playoffs against fourth-placed U-23 Africa Cup of Nations 2023, Guinea, on May 9, 2024.

The 2024 U-23 Asian Cup semifinal match will be held on April 29, 2024.

Indonesia U-23 will face Uzbekistan U-23 at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, while the U-23 vs Iraq U-23 Japanese match will be presented at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.