In the early morning of May 3, Beijing time, the third and fourth finals of the U23 Asian Cup ended, and the Iraqi Olympic Games defeated the Indonesian Olympic Games 2-1 in overtime, successfully won the third place, and at the same time qualified for the Paris Olympic Games, which was the sixth time in the team's history.
In the semi-finals, Indonesia lost to Uzbekistan and Iraq defeated Japan, missing the final and missing the Paris Olympics in advance. According to the regulations, the top three in this event will advance to the Olympic Games, so Iraq and Indonesia, who missed the final, still have a chance, and whoever wins the third place will get a ticket.
Since Indonesia is participating in the competition for the first time, it has never played against Iraq before, and the two sides are relatively unfamiliar. In recent years, Indonesia has relied on a large number of naturalized players to rapidly improve its strength, which has also made Iraq dare not despise this Southeast Asian team.
After the start of the game, Indonesia played very aggressively and took the lead in the score. In the 19th minute, Jenner scored directly with a long-range shot from the edge of the penalty area, and Iraq fell behind 0-1 and fell into a desperate situation.
In the 27th minute, the Indonesian goalkeeper made a mistake and Tahsin scored with a header in front of the goal to help Iraq equalize 1-1. After that, Iraq dominated the field and threatened several times, but could not overtake the score and the game went to extra time.
In the 6th minute of extra time, Iraq overtook the score: Ali Jassim scored from a tight angle in the penalty area, and the whole team celebrated wildly.
Due to the obvious decline in the physical fitness of both sides, Iraq's goal basically ended the suspense of the game, and then Indonesia fought back frantically and was unable to equalize, and finally suffered a 1-2 defeat.
After the game, the two teams staged two days of joy and sorrow, the Indonesian players were emotionally lost, the Iraqi players were very excited, some players ran directly to celebrate, and hugged in a circle to dance and carnival, and some players knelt on the court and cried with joy to celebrate the team's successful qualification for the Paris Olympics.
Compared to Indonesia, which has only participated once, Iraq has participated in the Olympics five times in the past, namely in 1980, 1984, 1988, 2004, 2016, and 2024, which is six times, second only to Japan and South Korea in Asian football.
According to statistics, Iraq's previous best result at the Olympics was the 2004 Athens Olympics, when it finished fourth.
As a West Asian country with a population of 43.35 million (as of 2023), Iraq is still one of the Asian football powerhouses, having won the Asian Cup, participated in the World Cup, and qualified for the Olympic Games six times.