On Apr. 26, South Korea’s U23 football team, led by Hwang Sun-hong, was defeated by Indonesia in a penalty shootout during the quarterfinals of the 2024 AFC U23 Asian Cup in Doha, ending their hopes of qualifying for the Paris Olympics and breaking their streak of 10 consecutive Olympic appearances.
The AFC highlighted the upset, saying “Indonesia triumphed over S. Korea in a penalty shootout drama, advancing to the semifinals.”
The AFC noted on its website that Indonesia had been defeated by S. Korea 0-4 in Mar. 2015, which dashed their hopes for the AFC U23 Asian Cup finals at that time. However, nine years later, Indonesia secured a historic semifinal spot by winning the penalty shootout against the same opponent, 11-10, showing remarkable progress.
The AFC added, “This result broke the hope for Hwang Sun-hong’s S. Korea to make its tenth Olympic appearance.”
During the match, S. Korea struggled with the tactics employed by coach Shin Tae-yong. Although they managed to equalize through an own goal by the opponent towards the end of the first half, they conceded the first goal and fell behind again just before halftime.
The match statistics heavily favored Indonesia, with 21 shots on goal compared to S. Korea’s 8, 5 shots on target compared to S. Korea’s 2, and possession at 53% compared to S. Korea’s 47%.
During the match, 9,105 Indonesian fans chanted Shin Tae-yong’s name, and some supporters showed excitement as the match went into extra time.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has praised Shin Tae-yong, the coach of the Indonesian national team. Shin, who previously coached the Korean national team and was the runner-up in the 2016 Qatar U23 Asian Cup, is now at the peak of his career as the coach of Indonesia. It has been suggested that if Shin leads Indonesia to victory against either Uzbekistan or Saudi Arabia in the semifinals, he will establish a new legacy in Indonesia.
According to Kompas, an Indonesian news outlet, “Indonesia’s U23 team has caused a major upset by defeating the highly favored Korean U23 team, thus shattering Korea’s hopes of Olympic qualification.” This loss means that Korea will not be participating in the Paris Olympics.
S. Korea failed to finish in the top three in the Asian Cup, which means that they will miss the Olympics for the first time in 40 years. This puts an end to their streak of 10 consecutive Olympic appearances, which started in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
On the other hand, Indonesia is aiming for its first Olympic appearance since the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. They will face the winner between Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia on Apr. 29 at 11 PM for a spot in the final.
