Can you imagine? This is football! Indonesia, the biggest dark horse in the history of the U23 Asian Cup, advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in the Asian Cup, eliminated South Korea, which had won three consecutive wins in the group, and advanced to the semifinals of the Asian Cup, continuing to set a new record in the team's history.
Small teams have big dreams! Indonesia, football has always been a weak project for them! Indonesia has still not stopped naturalization, and they are infinitely close to success. In the first team, FIFA updated the latest national team world rankings, Indonesia ranked 134th, 23rd in Asia, up 8 places from the previous period! From the national team to the U23 national team, Indonesia has advanced by leaps and bounds, and with the rise of Vietnam and Indonesia, there are really not many weak teams left for the national football team. In this Asian Cup, Indonesia counterattacked all the way, defeating Australia 1-0 in the group stage, defeating Jordan 4-1 to qualify for the second place in the group, and creating a penalty miracle in the knockout round to send South Korea home!
Our U23 men's football team, in the last five U23 Asian Cups, has lost 13 games in 15 games and has never qualified from the group! In this Asian Cup, Vietnam, Iraq, Indonesia and other teams have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup, and Indonesia has made history, playing back and forth with South Korea, 2-2 in regular time! Indonesia has advanced to the semifinals of the Asian Cup, and they will continue to attack the championship while being expected to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
A total of 16 teams will participate in this tournament, and the top 3 teams will go straight to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, and the 4th team will compete with the 4th Guinea team in the African zone for the Olympic Games! Indonesia is infinitely close to the Paris Olympics, and after advancing to the semi-finals, if Indonesia wins at least one more game in the last two Asian Cup matches, it can confirm that it has won the medal to lock the top three and go straight to Paris!
After Indonesia's U23 entered the quarterfinals of the U23 Asian Cup for the first time in history, the president of the Indonesian Football Association, Eric Tohir, expressed great pride!
Not only the U23, but also the U19 national youth drew with Indonesia, and this year's Asian Cup national football team was eliminated from the Indonesian round of 16! Indonesia continues to make history, and Vietnam's U23 national football team has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Asian Cup for two consecutive years, and it is really hard to imagine how many other Asian teams will be surpassed by our Chinese men's football team in the next 5-10 years.
FIFA released the 2023 annual report on professional men's football, and the AFC has a total of 781 professional football clubs, with Thailand leading the way, Saudi Arabia 108 second, Japan 60 third, China 48 fourth (16 teams each in the Chinese Super League, China League A and China B), and Indonesia 46 ranking fifth!
Previously, the Japanese Olympic team has reached the semi-finals of this U23 Asian Cup, and the remaining two semi-finals will be produced in the two sets of matchups between Iraq v vs Vietnam and Uzbekistan vs Saudi Arabia!