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| 출처=시시아골 |
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| Source=Syagol SNS Capture |
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| Source=Asian Football Federation |
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The biggest surprise in the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup qualifying round is Indonesia's shocking elimination and Lebanon's miraculous advance to the finals.
In an article summarizing the U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers on the 12th, the Chinese portal 'Sina.Com'Indonesia defeated South Korea in the quarterfinals of the previous tournament and advanced to the semifinals for the first time in history. The final ranking was fourth. However, he failed to win a ticket to the finals in the preliminary round of this tournament. Indonesia, with a population of 300 million, has been reduced to spectators in the U-23 Asian Cup finals."
Indonesia, led by current Ulsan coach Shin Tae-yong, stood tall as the best sensation team in the 2024 tournament in Qatar, but returned to its old underdog form after Shin, who also served as the Indonesian national team and the U-23 team, left.
This time, they beat Macau 5-0, but they tied Laos 0-0 and lost to South Korea 0-1 in the final match, with only one win, one draw and one loss and four points. It was second in the group after South Korea (9 points), which won all three games by beating Laos, which had the same points, but that was not enough.
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| 중계화면 |
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In the U-23 Asian Cup qualifying round, a total of 15 teams, including 11 teams ranked first in 11 groups and four teams with good performance among the second-place teams in the group, got tickets to the finals. Indonesia fell behind China, Uzbekistan, Lebanon (more than seven points) and the United Arab Emirates (six points) in the competition for the second place in the group. He allowed Hwang Do-yoon (Seoul) to score only one goal in the group league, but he was eliminated. It is regrettable that the draw against Laos remains.
Southeast Asian soccer media 'Syagol' downgrades Indonesia's U-23 team 'All-time. Indonesia's amazing turnaround that made history at the 2024 tournament has been dubbed '...' The photo of the SNS post was decided by former coach Shin Tae-yong.
'Home of Malaya' also criticized 'It's as if you have to tear down and rebuild a house that's almost completely finished.' Indonesia's U-23 team took over the baton to coach Harald Panenbürch after Shin left. Panenbürch is also from the Netherlands.
Lebanon, on the other hand, has done a miracle. Lebanon beat Malaysia and Mongolia in the group stage and drew with Thailand for the first time in history, finishing third among second place in the group with two wins, one draw and seven points. 'Sina.Com.' introduced that Lebanon has a population of only 6.07 million.
Coincidentally, Indonesia and Lebanon played a friendly match between the A teams in Jakarta, Indonesia, on the 8th, just before the final result of the U-23 Asian Cup finals came out. Indonesia, which had an 81% share, continued to push, but failed to score a goal and drew 0-0. Ahead of the fourth qualifying round for next month's World Cup, criticism of Indonesian coach Patric Clawybert is mounting.
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| photo courtesy of the Korea Football Association |
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| photo courtesy of the Korea Football Association |
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Meanwhile, South Korea, led by head coach Lee Min-sung, along with Jordan in Group A, Japan in Group B, Vietnam in Group C, Qatar in Group H, Iran in Group I, and Syria in Group K, won all three games and scored a 100% victory rate.
China won one point through a 0-0 draw against Australia in the final Group D match on the 9th, recording two wins, one draw and seven points, barely getting a ticket to the finals.
It was the first time that the team advanced to the finals against Kyrgyzstan in Group E.
As a result, all 16 countries in the U-23 Asian Cup finals to be held in Saudi Arabia in January next year have been decided. In addition to host Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, China, Jordan, Vietnam, Australia, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Iraq, Qatar, Iran, Syria, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates will compete.
Korea, the champion of the 2020 tournament, is aiming for its second career title in six years. In the last tournament, Japan beat Uzbekistan in the final and won.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
