Indonesia qualified for the U23 Asian qualifiers for the first time
Before the match, Indonesia had the same three points as Turkmenistan, but led the group with a difference of +9 compared to the opponent's +4. Besides, the team plays at home stadium Manahan, Surakarta. A draw was enough for the two teams to advance together, but Indonesia still pressed forward to attack.
In the 40th minute, central midfielder Ivar Jenner scored the opening goal. Jenner was born in 2004 in the Netherlands but has a grandmother born in Java, Indonesia, so she was naturalized in May 2023. He trained at the Ajax Amsterdam training facility in the period 2014-2016, then transferred to Ultrecht and was promoted to the club's first team this year.
Being led, Turkmenistan had to attack but could not score. In the second minute of injury time in the second half, Pratama Arhan scored a shot and hit the opponent, sealing a 2-0 victory for the home team.
As the winner of Group K, Indonesia qualified for the U23 Asian qualifiers for the first time in its sixth participation. Coach Shin Tae-yong also entered the history of football in the land of thousands of islands when he became the first person to help the U20, U23 and national teams attend the Asian finals. Indonesia was eliminated from the 2023 Asian U20 group stage. In January 2024, the team competed in the Asian Cup in Group D with Vietnam, Iraq and Japan.
Besides Indonesia, Southeast Asia has Vietnam - the top team in Group C, and Thailand - the top team in Group H - moving on. Both qualified for the fifth time. Vietnam won 6-0 Guam, 1-0 Yemen and drew 2-2 Singapore, while Thailand won 5-0 Philippines, 3-0 Bangladesh and 1-0 Malaysia.
Malaysia ranked second in Group H with six points, and is currently ranked fourth in the list of second-place teams, corresponding to a place in the final round. Malaysia's chances of moving forward are quite high with only Tajikistan Group I and Cambodia Group J competing. In the final match, these two teams both face strong opponents - Tajikistan meets Australia, and Cambodia meets Saudi Arabia, so they have no chance of winning.
Currently, the 2024 U23 Asian Finals have identified five teams with the same name as host Qatar: South Korea, Vietnam, UAE, Thailand and Indonesia. The remaining 10 names will be determined after the series of matches on the evening of September 12 and this morning, September 13 ends.
