Olyroos ready to face day of destiny

Tuesday, 21 January 2020:

Olyroos captain Thomas Deng is confident his team is ready to face their day of destiny at the AFC Under-23 Championships.

Australia face South Korea in a semi-final clash in Bangkok on Wednesday night knowing the winner of the match will book their place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

It's a massive moment for the Olyroos, who last reached the Games in 2008 and are competing in the semi-finals of an Asian championship for the first time.

Having overcome Syria 1-0 after extra time in the quarter-finals, Deng says there's a belief within the camp their time to end Australia's Olympic drought has arrived.

"The vibe is very good. The boys are very positive," Deng told Fox Sports.

"We had a good performance the other night, going 120 minutes which wasn't easy, and it brought us together.

"We are going to be very hard to beat in the games to come."

The Koreans come into the match having had a day less to prepare after their 2-1 quarter-final victory over Iraq on Sunday but have a perfect four-from-four record.

Many of their players are K-League regulars, while South Korea's under-23s have a rich history in the competition having reached the semi-finals in all four editions of the tournament.

They are also two-time Asian Games champions and claimed the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

Melbourne Victory defender Deng says the plan will be to unsettle their opponents with a high-tempo game on Wednesday.

"Just bring some energy. We've had a day extra to rest," he said.

"We've been saying in our meetings to bring a lot of energy, play fast and direct, and that's what we're going to do."

Should Australia fall to the Koreans, their Olympic bid will come down to a third-placed playoff against the loser of the other semi-final between defending champions Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia.

Deng said the equation in his mind was simple however, win the tournament and the Olympics will take care of themselves.

"Reaching the semi-final is good, but we've still got another two games to go, and we want to win the Asian Cup. That'll handle the rest," he said.

Wednesday's game kicks off at 8.15pm (0015 Thursday AEDT).






AAP