U23 Asian Cup Spotlight: Uzbekistan U23s Advance to the Finals
This year's U23 Asian Cup is not only a soccer extravaganza, but also a key event on the road to the 2024 Paris Olympics. According to the rules of the competition, the top three teams will lock up their tickets to the Olympics, while the fourth place will have to play a play-off against an African opponent. As a result, the winning team will go through to the final and hold the Olympic ticket, while the losing team will have to compete with the winner of Japan U23 and Iraq U23 for the third place.
In the 69th minute of the match, Uzbekistan U23 attacked from the right side and Norchayev made an aerial finish in the box to make it 1:0 in favor of Indonesia U23.
However, the match took a dramatic turn in the 82nd minute. Indonesia U23 defender Ramadani was defending Uzbekistan U23 player Jasbek when he inadvertently hit his opponent's lower body, and Chinese referee Shen Yinhao decisively showed a red card and sent him off.
In the 86th minute, Uzbekistan U23 was awarded a free kick in front of the goal, the ball flew into the penalty area, Indonesia U23 goalkeeper pounced on the dangerous ball, but Abdulkodir's header hit the post and bounced out. Rifa'iu took another shot, but accidentally scored on his own goal. In the end, Uzbekistan U23s beat Indonesia U23s by 2:0 to advance to the final and qualify for the Paris Olympics ahead of schedule.
It remains to be seen whether Indonesia's U23s will qualify for the Olympics or not.
While naturalized players have accelerated the diversification of the national team's roster, that doesn't mean results will be seen immediately. The national team and Italy have tried this strategy before, but both failed to make it out of the 2022 World Cup proper. Currently, the national team is fully focused on preparing for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
