Loss to Indonesia in the quarterfinals of the U23 Asian Championship prevented Korean football from extending its record of consecutive Olympic appearances to 10.
On the morning of April 26, the 2020 champion – U23 Korea suffered an 11-10 defeat on penalties after 120 minutes of a 2-2 draw against “rookie” Indonesia in the 2024 U23 Asia quarterfinals taking place in Doha – Qatar.
“tragedy in Doha!”, Seoul Sport exclamatory. “Hwang Seon-hong’s team entered the match with full optimism after 3 wins in the group stage but in the end had to bow to Indonesia, the underrated team.”
The newspaper pointed out that the “disaster” happened to the home team before the penalty shootout, when Indonesia took the lead twice, then striker Lee Young-jin and head coach Hwang Seon-hong were sent off the field. causing U23 Korea to play with only 10 players and no leader.
The U23 Asian Finals are also the Paris Olympic men’s soccer qualifiers, where the 4 semi-finalists have 3 official spots and 1 play-off spot to win tickets to France next July.
And with this defeat, Korean football’s goal of attending the 10th consecutive Olympics is officially bankrupt.
“Korean football holds the world record with 9 consecutive Olympic appearances, from the 1988 Seoul Olympics to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, due to the “Doha tragedy”, they had to be absent for the first time. after 40 years, counting from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics”, Seoul Sport said.
Let’s talk about this in detail, sheet Newsis added: “Korean football’s record was stopped by coach Shin Tae-yong, a Korean.”
On the other hand, U23 Indonesia created a big surprise when they entered the semi-finals of the U23 Asia in their first appearance, and had a great opportunity to return to the Olympic arena after 68 years, since the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.