Elkan Baggott And Rafael Struick Hope For Prosperity In U-23 Asian Cup Qualification

Naturalized player for the U-23 Indonesian national team, Rafael Struick (center). (Photo: Doc. PSSI)

JAKARTA - Elkan Baggot and Rafael Struick hope that the U-23 Indonesian national team will have a good fate in the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup Qualification round.

The U-23 Indonesian national team consecutively played the Group K qualifying round against Taiwan and Turkmenistan on Saturday, September 9 and Tuesday, September 12, at Manahan Stadium, Solo.

To go straight into the finals, Indonesia needs to top the group standings. Another path is to be the best runners-up, but that scenario is not so secure.

"We hope to qualify for this and advance to the next round next year," said Elkan as quoted from the official PSSI website.

For now, Turkmenistan is leading the top of the standings after beating Taiwan with a landslide score of four goals without reply in the group's inaugural match.

If you want to shift Turkmenistan's position, Indonesia needs to win with a more flashy score of 5-0 and so on over Taiwan this weekend.

If the result can be obtained, Garuda Muda only needs a draw in the last match against Turkmenistan on Tuesday, September 12, to qualify as group winners.

However, if this scenario does not happen, Indonesia will chase a ticket to Qatar through the four best runner-up teams. The number of goals during the preliminary round will have a major effect on this route.

"Similar to other friends, I also hope to qualify for this qualifying round and play in the U-23 Asian Cup next year," concluded Rafael.

In the qualifying phase, there are 11 plus group winners and the four best runners-up will qualify for the final round which will take place in Qatar from April 15 to May 3, 2024.