Falling to Korea, U23 Indonesia says goodbye to Asian dream

The 0-1 defeat against South Korea officially prevented U23 Indonesia from qualifying for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship finals.

U23 Indonesia (white shirt) lost to South Korea - Photo: BOLA

On the evening of September 9, U23 Indonesia suffered a 0-1 defeat against U23 Korea in the final round of Group J of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers. This result prevented the "island of thousands of islands" team from reaching the ticket to the final round next year in Saudi Arabia.

U23 Indonesia could only finish second in Group J. With 4 points, they were not qualified to compete for the play-off spot for the 4 best second-placed teams. On the contrary, U23 Korea confidently advanced to the top of the group with 9 points.

The "Kim Chi" team had a dominant match and scored an early goal in the 6th minute. From a narrow shooting angle, Hwang Doyun unleashed a powerful shot, giving goalkeeper Cahya Supriadi no chance to block, opening the score for the away team.

Behind, the U23 Indonesia coach sent in attacking players such as Jens Raven, Kakang Rudianto and Robi Darwis but could not cause any surprises. Korea showed a tight and disciplined pressing style of play.

Every time the Southeast Asian representative organized an attack, the Korean players immediately closed in, not giving them space to play the ball.

The score of 1-0 remained until the final whistle blew.

This defeat has officially ended the dream of participating in the final round of the U23 Asian Cup for U23 Indonesia. Their naturalization policy continues to be questioned, as the youth teams have continuously experienced painful failures.

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THANH DINH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/guc-nga-truoc-han-quoc-u23-indonesia-chia-tay-giac-mo-chau-a-20250909220607815.htm