Having just passed the Asian U23 group stage, U23 Indonesia aims to attend the Olympics

“U23 Indonesia cannot be satisfied with just reaching the quarterfinals. We will focus on winning the right to attend the Olympics,” Captain Rizky Ridho of U23 Indonesia declared before the match against U23 Korea.

The island team passed the Asian U23 group stage in their first participation. Their opponent in the quarter-finals is U23 Korea – one of the championship candidates and has a winning record, having not conceded a single goal in the group stage.

U23 Indonesia entered the U23 Asian quarterfinals for the first time.

“This is an important match, if we win we will have a 50% chance of winning tickets to the Olympics. The whole team has the same goal. No one is under any pressure but everyone is enjoying this.”“, Ridho shared.

Like coach Shin Tae-yong, Indonesian U23 players seem to be unable to ignore the pain of being forced to play in the opening match. When recalling his journey in the group stage, Rizky Ridho did not forget to mention the referee.

“The match against U23 Qatar was a bit disappointing and we still feel that way until today. We all know that U23 Indonesia could have won but the result was different. The referee said so, but we overcame via.

We had 3 points against Australia U23 to open up the opportunity to enter the next round. When it comes to the match against U23 Jordan, U23 Indonesia is determined not to concede a draw because that means the risk of losing.” said the captain of U23 Indonesia.

Indonesia U23 captain Rizky Ridho (Photo: AFC)

U23 Indonesia started their journey at the 2024 U23 Asian Finals with a loss to U23 Qatar. This was a match where the island team was not satisfied with the referee’s decisions, including Ivar Jenner’s red card at the end of the first half.

In the next match, U23 Indonesia caused a big surprise when they defeated U23 Australia. Coach Shin Tae-yong’s team was completely overwhelmed by their opponents, receiving more than 20 shots but still kept a clean sheet before scoring the only goal to decide the match.

Then U23 Indonesia won convincingly U23 Jordan in the last round. They became the second Southeast Asian team to win 2 victories in the group stage of the U23 continental tournament.

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