AFC
Doha
Eight years after their last appearance, Iraq are bound for the Olympic Games again after securing their sixth qualification on Thursday night.
Having stumbled at the semi-final stage three days ago, the West Asians grabbed their second chance by overcoming Indonesia 2-1 in extra time of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 third-place playoff to take the final automatic qualifying slot to Paris 2024.
Ali Jasim sparked wild celebrations at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium with a clinical finish in the 96th minute to complete Iraq’s comeback and break Indonesia’s hearts in front of a partisan crowd with the West Asians joining Japan and Uzbekistan at the Olympics.
It was a dramatic end to a pulsating affair that saw the Southeast Asians break the deadlock in the 19th minute through Ivar Jenner, who collected a weak clearance before firing a daisycutter through a crowd of bodies into the bottom right corner from 25 yards.
That had been the first proper opening of the match and falling behind stung Iraq into action. Jasim’s curled effort two minutes later was palmed away by Ernando Ari but from the resulting corner, Indonesia were pegged back.
Ernando’s punch fell only as far as Nihad Mohammed, who knocked the loose ball back across goal for Zaid Tahseen to head into the open goal from unmissable range.
Nihad would go on to have some of the best chances of the game as the right winger headed two decent opportunities wide and saw his effort brilliantly cleared off the line by Nathan Tjoe in the 73rd minute, having rounded Ernando and slid the ball towards a gaping net.
At the other end, Indonesia were not as threatening as they were before the break, although Hussein Hasan had to be at full stretch to tip over Witan Sulaeman’s inswinging corner and was rooted to the spot when Jean Kelly smashed a volley inches over the bar in the 72nd minute.
Tahseen crashed a header past the wrong side of the left post deep in added time but Jasim was not as wasteful when Iraq’s next chance came to him.
Six minutes into extra time, the livewire forward ran onto Muntadher Mohammed’s exquisite ball over the top before lashing it through Ernando’s legs for a tournament-leading fourth goal and his first from open play.
It was a blow that their opponents could not recover from and one that meant Radhi Shenaishil will lead Iraq as head coach at the Olympics, having appeared as a player in the 1988 edition in Seoul.
Not all hope is lost yet for Indonesia, who can still join Japan, Uzbekistan and Indonesia as the AFC’s representatives in Paris if they emerge victorious against Guinea in a winner-takes-all intercontinental playoff in Paris on May 9.
