Indonesia, Japan advance; South Korea out of contention for Paris Olympics

NEW DELHI: South Korea will miss the men’s football tournament at the Olympics for the first time since 1984 after losing a penalty shootout to Indonesia at the Under-23 Asian Cup quarterfinals on Thursday.

The top three teams will qualify for the Paris Games, and Indonesia reached the last four by winning the shootout 11-10 after the score remained tied 2-2 through extra time.

Rafael Struick put Indonesia ahead after 15 minutes only for Komang Teguh’s own goal to level the scoreline after 45 minutes. There was still time before the break, however, for Struick to score again.

Jeong Sang-bin equalized with 14 minutes remaining despite Korea being reduced to 10 men minutes earlier when Lee Young-jun was shown a red card.

Lee Kang-hee missed in the shootout, leaving Pratama Arhan to score the winner.

Earlier, Japan knocked out host Qatar 4-2 after extra time to stay on course for an eighth straight Olympic appearance.

Fuki Yamada scored early for Japan but Ahmed Al-Rawi and Jassem Gaber netted to put Qatar ahead.

Seiji Kimura made it 2-2 midway through the second half and after the tie went into extra-time, Mao Hosoya put Japan ahead once more and Kotaro Uchino scored after 113 minutes to secure the win for Japan.

On Friday, defending champion Saudi Arabia faces Uzbekistan, while Iraq meets Vietnam. The team that finishes fourth will face Guinea in a playoff in May with a place in Paris at stake. Agencies

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