AFC
Doha: Indonesia are determined to extend their involvement in the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024™, with the Southeast Asian side aiming to create more history when they face Uzbekistan in the semi-finals at Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium on Monday.
The debutants have been a revelation, advancing to the knockout stage at Australia and Jordan’s expense before stunning Korea Republic in the quarter-finals. In Uzbekistan, however, they will face their biggest challenge yet.
Head coach Shin Tae-yong expressed his awe at Uzbekistan's quality, having witnessed first-hand how Timur Kapadze’s side plays but remained confident that his Indonesian side will pass another tough test.
“I went to the stadium for the Uzbekistan-Saudi Arabia match and saw for myself that Uzbekistan are a very good team - stable, organised and well disciplined,” said Shin.
“After watching them, I saw why they can score 12 goals and concede none. The main thing is their fast transitions - both attacking and defending, making them one of the strongest teams in the competition.
“It will not be easy in the semi-final but we are in good shape, so hopefully we can get a good result.”
Despite having an additional day to recover after the quarter-final win against Korea Republic, Shin did not see it as a significant advantage in terms of fitness and recovery due to Indonesia’s match going to a marathon penalty shootout.
In fact, the former Korea Republic FIFA World Cup 2018 head coach felt that mental strength could have a more significant impact.
“Before we started against Korea, I thought that if we managed to reach the next stage, we would have an advantage because we had one extra day of rest.
“However, because we went all the way in that game, we cannot say the one day extra makes a big difference and we also cannot discount Uzbekistan’s fitness level. But at this stage of the competition, the mental side plays a big part as well.”
As for Uzbekistan, they go into the semi-final as the only team with a perfect record of four wins at Qatar 2024.
With as many as 10 different players having scored, Kapadze possesses a variety of attacking options that makes them strong favourites to reach their third final in four editions.
“We’re happy to have reached this round, we will have a tough game tomorrow but we will be ready,” said Kapadze.
“Each game was difficult for us, especially the last one against Saudi Arabia.
“Tomorrow is another game and we work as usual. We have our strategy for Indonesia and we will look to implement it in the game.
“It (the stadium filled with Indonesian fans) will not have an impact on us because we have the experience of playing in front of big crowds.”
Indonesia v Uzbekistan
Venue: Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium (Doha)
Kick-off: Monday, 17:00 (UTC+3)