The teams that advanced to the quarterfinals included Iraq, Japan, Uzbekistan and the Indonesian National Olympic Team. The Indonesian National Olympic Team, ranked 134th in the world, set several records. First, they are the newest team in the Asian Cup. In their first appearance at the U23 Asian Cup, they advanced to the knockout rounds and made it to the quarterfinals. As a rule, the top three finishers in this tournament will qualify directly for the Paris Olympics! The fourth place will compete with Africa's Guinea for the last Olympic ticket. With just one more win, the Indonesian National Olympic Team can travel to the Olympics! Why are they doing so well? One extremely important reason is that most of the team's players are naturalized. Unlike this, Chinese soccer needs more work on naturalization and is significantly lagging behind compared to other countries! The national team used to be afraid to use naturalized players, and now there are no suitable naturalized players available!
The semifinals will be followed by two intense matches: the Iraqi national team will face the Japanese national team and the Uzbek national team will face the Indonesian national team. The winning team will advance to the final and qualify for the Paris Olympics. The losers will compete for the third place. The Chinese national Olympic team has already regretted its exit.
