On April 26, Beijing time, in the quarterfinals of the U23 Asian Cup, Indonesia narrowly defeated South Korea 13-12 in a penalty shootout to advance, and Japan defeated Qatar 4-2 in extra time to advance to the semifinals. Two seats were born in the semifinals of the Asian Cup, Indonesia and Japan advanced hand in hand, the tickets for the Olympic Games were basically in hand, and the South Korean men's football team missed the Paris Olympics and broke a big upset.
Indonesia-South Korea
South Korea quickly grasped the advantage of possession, continuously creating space on the side to send high-quality passes, and in the 7th minute, Lee Kang-hee's volley from the top of the arc was once broken but ruled invalid for offside. Indonesia no longer tolerate a quick counter-attack and continued to put pressure on the opponent's half, making it difficult for the South Korean defence to adapt. In the 14th minute, Struk opened the scoring for Indonesia with a world-class strike from the edge of the penalty area. Indonesia's high-pressure posture once pressed South Korea to fight. Despite South Korea's attempts to create a threat through pass-and-possession and set-piece tactics, they were unable to break through Indonesia's defence. Indonesia were excellent defensively, aggressively intercepting and creating counter-attacking opportunities. Ferdinand misses a great chance in front of goal. South Korea once again took possession of the ball but were unable to deliver a threatening shot on goal, with Indonesian goalkeeper Hernan attacking on several occasions to defuse the threat of crosses. Before half-time, Yoon Ji-sung received a long pass at the back point and shook his head to attack the goal, causing Coman to score an own goal and luckily equalized. Indonesia started to attack again, finding gaps in South Korea's defense through a long counterattack, and Struk seized the opportunity to push and score to lead Indonesia for the second time. Indonesia continued to threaten a number of attacks, but South Korea withstood the pressure.
In the rematch, Indonesia continued to maintain a high-intensity offensive posture. A couple of wide breaks instigated a quick attack, but Struk and Ferdinand failed to convert good chances into goals. Despite their attempts to adjust their tactics, South Korea were unable to find an effective way to score in the face of Indonesia's tight defense and efficient counter-attacks. In the 70th minute, South Korea scored again, and Lee Young-jun was sent off with a red card for a foul. South Korea's substitution adjustment of 10 men worked, and in the 83rd minute, a long pass counterattack caused confusion in the Indonesian defense, and substitute Zheng Xiangbin did not fail in his mission and seized the opportunity to push into the net to equalize. In extra time, Indonesia laid siege in front of the court for most of the time, with many long-range shots but little threat, and South Korea stubbornly defended. In the penalty shootout, Indonesia won 11-10, narrowly won with an aggregate score of 13-12, and made history by reaching the semifinals in the Asian Cup for the first time. The South Korean men's football team missed the Olympics and broke out a big upset.
Qatar-Japan
As soon as the Japanese team came up, they pressed high and perfectly executed the opening strategy, and Toyoki Yamada cleverly seized the opportunity of the opponent's passing error to cut and shoot cross-cutting to score the goal. Japan has the advantage, Qatar mainly plays defense, but the rhythm is restrained and there are few opportunities to counterattack. Japan's aggressive strategy exposed holes in the backfield, Qatar made a threatening pass on the right after a few probes, and Ravi won a duel in the middle to equalize with a header. The two teams slowed down until half-time, Japan picked up the tempo and continued to suppress, the Qatari defense first gave the opponent an empty chance under heavy pressure, and then the goalkeeper was sent off for a foul, but fortunately they held on until half-time and did not concede another goal.
If there are not enough people, they will go up to fight for set-piece attacks, Qatar tactics are appropriate, and in the 49th minute, Jassim used air superiority to score again with a header to complete the overtake. Japan's shortcomings in the defense of high-altitude balls have once again appeared. Japan adjusted their strategy and continued to press down the flanks, finally finding a breakthrough in a set-piece, and Seiji Kimura equalised with a tactical header from the edge of the corner kick. Japan's ferocious offensive caused danger one after another, but it repeatedly missed the opportunity to kill. Qatar stubbornly withstood the pressure and dragged the game into extra time. Japan's numerical advantage was revealed, and Shindai Hosoya and Shotaro Uchino seized the opportunity to score two goals in a row. In the end, Japan defeated Qatar 4-2 to advance to the semifinals.
Two seats will be awarded in the semi-finals
With South Korea and Qatar losing their matches and being eliminated, Indonesia and Japan joined hands to advance to the semi-finals. With 3.5 quota places for the U23 Asian Cup to qualify for the Paris Olympics, it means that the two teams have already secured at least 0.5 places, and at worst, they will compete for the last spot in the play-offs with the fourth place in the African zone, so it can be said that there is not much suspense for the two teams to participate in the Olympic Games.