April 21 – Two goals from Marselino Ferdinan in a 4-1 win over Jordan propelled AFC U23 Asian Cup debutants Indonesia into the quarter finals as second placed Group A qualifiers behind hosts Qatar.
Qatar kept their unbeaten record intact as the drew with Australia, condemning them to an early exit.
Indonesia needed just a point to qualify having beaten Australia in their group game three days ago.
Nine of the Indonesian U23 team were in the senior team at the Asian Cup in January/February where they qualified for the first time to the knock-out rounds.
Marselino scored the first goal then and opened the scoring against Jordan from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute as the Indonesians flooded forward infront of a large Indonesian support.
Goalscorer became provider for the second goal with Marselino feeding captain Rizky Ridho who in turn found Witan Sulaeman in the 40th minute.
Marselino scored his second in the 70th minute before Waseem Alriyalat pulled one back from long range for Jordan and Komang Teguh added Indonesia’s fourth.
Indonesia will now meet either Japan or Korea Republic on Thursday evening.
Qatar’s 0-0 draw with Australia will see them face the second placed team from Group B of either Japan or South Korea.
Bother the Japanese and South Koreans have qualified for every Olympic football competition since 1996. The top four teams in the U23 Asian Cup will qualify for Paris later this summer.
Elsewhere Uzbekistan and Vietnam have qualified from Group D with a game to play and meet each other to close the group in a battle for the top spot against the second place Group C team.
Saudi Arabia have dominated Group C and face Iraq in their final game. Iraq need to win to have a chance of going through to the quarter finals. They are level on points with Thailand who face Tajikistan in their final game.
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