In the early morning of April 26, Beijing time, the U23 Asian Cup 1/4 finals ended with two battles, with Japan defeating Qatar 4-2 and South Korea losing 12-13 to Indonesia. At present, two seats have been born in the top four, namely Japan and Indonesia, and then Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Iraq, and Vietnam will compete for the remaining two tickets.
Japan eliminated Qatar 4-2
After losing to South Korea in the final round, Japan could only finish second in the group, and the two teams met again after four years against hosts Qatar to advance to the quarterfinals.
In just one minute of the opening game, Japan got off to a dream start of 1-0 with a direct long-range shot from Kaede Yamada. In the 24th minute, Qatar tied the score at 1-1, Yaqidi crossed from the right and assisted Ravi to jump high and head the goal. In the 37th minute, Matsuki swept in front of the goal, and the outflanked Masoya Hosoya pushed the empty goal with no one to mark, and Japan missed a great opportunity. In the 39th minute, Qatari goalkeeper Al Balid kicked on Madai Hosoya's stomach and was subsequently sent off with a red card.
In the second half, the confrontation between the two teams was still fierce, and they also had their own offense and defense. In the 49th minute, Jassim scored with a header to help Qatar achieve a 2-1 overtake. In the 67th minute, Seiji Kimura scored a goal to help Japan equalize 2-2. In the final overtime, Shindai Hosoya and Kotaro Uchino each scored a goal to help Japan win 4-2 and eliminate Qatar to advance to the semifinals.
With one more player in the second half, Japan failed to capitalize on that advantage and could only eliminate Qatar in extra time.
After qualifying for the semi-finals, Japan is one win away from qualifying for the Olympics, as only the top three teams will qualify for the Games, with fourth-place finishers still having to play in the play-offs.
South Korea 12-13 Indonesia
This is the first time the two teams have met in this competition, South Korea won three consecutive group stage to qualify, Indonesia lost in the first round, the last two wins accumulated 6 points to rank second to advance, and the first time to enter the knockout stage created a miracle.
In the face of such a new army, South Korea was unexpectedly out of shape, not only was the number of shots and shots on target thrown away, but the score was behind for a long time. At 1-2 at half-time, South Korea failed to score a goal, with Indonesia's own-owned, while the Southeast Asian side relied on a brace from Rafael Struyk to temporarily take a one-goal lead.
Entering the second half, South Korea continued to be passive in the offensive end, and continued to have no shots on target in the first 70 minutes, and fellow starting striker Lee Yongjun was also sent off with a red card, resulting in one less player. In the face of a desperate situation, South Korea equalized in the 84th minute, Zheng Xiangbin single-handedly pushed into the net, the score became a 2-2 draw, and finally the game entered extra time, still did not distinguish the winner, and finally in the penalty shootout, Indonesia defeated South Korea 11-10, and the overall score was 13-12 to advance.
With South Korea's exit, early to miss the Olympic qualification, the previous 9 consecutive qualification, this is the record of Asian teams, this time South Korea aims to lock up the qualification 10 times in a row, now declared failure to go home early, Indonesia is the first time to enter the semi-finals, there is also a chance to hit the Olympic ticket.