Defeating South Korea, Indonesia enters the semi-finals of the U23 Asia

Indonesia and South Korea gave fans the most intense match in the history of the U23 Asian Cup, with all the spices, from super goals, VAR, own goals, red cards to a seemingly endless penalty shootout - where both teams used all their players to kick, including the goalkeeper before taking the second round.

It was not until the 12th penalty shootout that the match could be decided. Goalkeeper Ernando Ari flew to block Lee Kang-hee's kick, before teammate Pratama Arhan coolly fooled the Korean goalkeeper, bringing Indonesia a historic victory. The team of thousands of islands has won a ticket to the semi-finals, and now has a great chance to participate in the Paris Olympics.

Before that, the two teams had gone through two dramatic official matches. Being rated higher, Korea started the match strongly. In the 8th minute, they made Indonesia's net rise with a shot from outside the penalty area by Lee Kang-hee.

Seven minutes after the near miss, thousands of Indonesian fans in the stands at Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium erupted in joy as their team took the lead. Naturalised player Rafael Struick fired a close-range shot from outside the box. The ball curved up before swerving down, beyond the reach of goalkeeper Baek Jong-bum and into the top corner.

In the final minute of regulation time in the first half, Indonesia lost the lead due to an unfortunate situation. Eim Ji-sung's header was light, but it hit defender Komang Teguh and changed direction, leaving goalkeeper Ernando Ari unable to react.

But the Indonesian fans did not have to be sad for long. Just three minutes later, their team regained the lead. Ivan Jenner sent a long ball between the Korean centre-back and left-back. Centre-back Lee Kang-hee misjudged the landing spot, allowing Struick to break free for a second time, beating goalkeeper Baek Jong-bum.

In the second half, coach Hwang Sun-hong sent striker Lee Young-jun onto the field to find an equalizer. However, number 6 put Korea in a more difficult position when he made a tackle on Struick in the 70th minute, receiving a red card when the referee consulted VAR.

Despite having the advantage in score and numbers, Indonesia could not maintain the victory. Coach Shin Tae-yong's team was busy attacking and was hit by a counter-attack in the 84th minute. Hong Yun-sang quickly got away before passing the ball to Jeong Sang-bin, who shot diagonally past goalkeeper Ernando Ari to tie the score at 2-2. The match became more tense when in the 7th minute of injury time, South Korea lost the command of coach Hwang Sun-hong. He received a red card for reacting to the referee.

In extra time, South Korea chose a tight play style, not leaving much space for Indonesia to exploit. Meanwhile, the Southeast Asian team wanted to take advantage to finish the match, pressing forward, continuously using high balls when sending striker Ramadhan Sananta with good physique onto the field. That is why Indonesia launched 21 shots in this match - nearly three times more than South Korea.

After 120 minutes of undecided play, the two teams were forced to take penalties. Here, Indonesia experienced moments of "returning from the dead". In the fifth round of penalties, when they were trailing 4-5, Justin Hubner was read by goalkeeper Baek Jong-bum and successfully blocked the shot. But when the Korean players were rushing to celebrate the victory, the referee signaled that their goalkeeper had moved both feet over the goal line before the opponent touched the ball. Hubner was allowed to take the shot again and did not miss.

On the sixth shot shortly after, goalkeeper Ernando Ari saved Kang Sang-yun's shot, and Fathur Rahman had a chance to seal it. But the 22-year-old's shot went wide, forcing the match to go into a further six shots, before Indonesia finally won.

In the semi-finals, Indonesia will meet the winner of the match between Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.