U-23 AFF Cup Semifinal Preview, Indonesia Vs Thailand: Give The Best, Young Garuda!

The U-23 Indonesian national team will face Thailand in the semifinals of the 2023 AFF U-23 Cup. (Photo: Doc. PSSI)

JAKARTA – The U-23 Indonesian national team will face Thailand in the semifinals of the 2023 AFF U-23 Cup. The Garuda troops are in a very combat-ready position.

This hot match will be held at the Rayong Province Stadium, Thailand, on Thursday, August 24 evening. The kick-off of this match will be at 20.00 WIB.

"We will do our best and play in the best way possible for the match," said the Indonesian coach, Shin Tae-yong, quoted from the official PSSI website.

"I saw several matches held by Thailand, I also saw matches from Malaysia. I think Thailand has a good squad in this tournament among all the participants," said the man from South Korea.

The U-23 Indonesian national team has advanced to the semifinals with the title of best group runner-up. Indonesia collected three points or was ahead of Cambodia and the Philippines which collected one point in the runner-up standings.

Indonesia, which is in Group B with Malaysia and Timor Leste, secured one win from two matches. The victory was obtained when dealing with Timor Leste.

Before the victory, Indonesia had previously lost against Malaysia. The result made Garuda have to wait for all the group-stage matches to finish to ensure a ticket to the semifinals.

The certainty of reaching the semifinals was only obtained by Indonesia on Tuesday, August 22 evening after Malaysia beat Timor Leste and Vietnam managed to beat the Philippines.

The result made Indonesia maintain its position in the best runner-up standings. This is because according to regulations, Cambodia's victory over Brunei Darussalam does not count.

This is because only Group A has four teams, so a win over the bottom team doesn't count. Meanwhile, Group B and Group C are filled with only three teams.

In contrast to Indonesia, Thailand advanced to the semifinals after being the best in Group A. They have successfully collected the maximum points from the three group phase matches.

"Of course, we are preparing tactics for the match against Thailand, hopefully, the results will be positive," said the U-23 national team defender, Kadek Arel.