Indonesia Inundates China Taipei 5 Goals Without Reply In The First Round

The Indonesian U-23 national team sang the national anthem Indonesia Raya against China Taipei in the first match of the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers for Group K at Manahan Stadium, Solo, Saturday (9/9/2023). (ANTARA/Zaro Ezza Syachniar)

The U-23 Indonesian national team submerged China Taipei with five goals without reply in the first round of the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers played at Manahan Stadium, Solo.

China Taipei, who had just lost to Turkmenistan in the inaugural match with a landslide score of 0-4 on Wednesday (6/6), again swallowed a bitter pill because the home team scored five goals without reply in the first half.

Five Indonesian goals were respectively created by Marselino Ferdinand, Ramadhan Sananta, Rafael Struick, Witan Sulaeman, and Ilham Rio Fahmi, which made the Garuda Muda team fully control the first round.

China Taipei was unable to penetrate Indonesia's defense in the first half which was escorted by centre-back duo Rizky Ridho and Elkan Baggot from the start. The Tseng Tai-Lin coach's team always failed to make a good ending so that this made them fail to penetrate Indonesia's defense.

Indonesia started the match well. In the 2nd minute, Marselino Ferdinand with a free kick was able to shoot the ball into the China Taipei goal.

The player kick for the KMSK club Deinze was actually not too hard, but the ball that was pinned behind the Taipei Chinese defensive line made goalkeeper Chang Hsiang-Chun fail to block the ball. Score 1-0 to Indonesia.

Four minutes later, Indonesia added goals. Ramadhan Sananta, who cleverly stole the ball from Chinese defender Taipei, was able to finish it well. The Red and White team won two goals with a score of 2-0 in the early minutes.

Winning two goals made coach Shin Tae-yong's team more confident. In the 9th minute, starting from Pratama Arhan's pass from the left, the ball meets Sananta who is standing free.

However, this time the Persis Solo striker's kick was not as good as his first target which resulted in a goal because it was still soaring.

The home team got another chance in the 14th minute. Witan Sulaeman got a throw-up ball from China's poor Taipei defender.

The footballer who played for Persija Jakarta fired a long-range shot, but was denied by Chang Hsiang-Chun.

Opportunity after dangerous opportunity that Indonesia got finally produced a goal again in the 20th minute. The good cooperation results occurred in the China Taipei defense area between Indonesian forwards and through his left foot, Rafael Struick made Chang Hsiang-Chun pick up the ball for the third time. The score changed 3-0.

Indonesia played neater and two minutes later the first goalscorer, Marselino got a chance with his hard right foot which was still wide on the left.

In the 27th minute, Indonesia got another chance through Sananta. Through a pull pass sent from the left side of the China Taipei defense, Indonesia created quite a dangerous opportunity. However, again Sananta failed to take advantage of this opportunity into goal.

The fourth goal he had been waiting for finally arrived two minutes later. Witan Sulaeman, who stood free, easily shot the goal. The score becomes 4-0.

Not satisfied with four goals, without mercy, this time right-back Ilham Rio Fahmi, who moved forward, his name was recorded to the score father as the fifth goalscorer for Indonesia through his hard right-footed kick in the 40th minute. The score changed 5-0.

Indonesia almost closed the first 45 minutes with a half-dozen advantage. However, the chance in front of the goal that Pratama Arhan got was still blocked by Chang Hsiang-Chun.

There were no additional goals after that and Indonesia closed the first half with a five-goal advantage without reply.

The following is a list of the line-ups of the two teams:

Indonesia: Ernando Ari (GK), Ilham Rio Fahmi, Elkan Baggot, Rizky Ridho (C), Ivar Jenner, Marselino Ferdinand, Witan Sulaeman, Ramadhan Sananta, Arkhan Fikri, Pratama Arhan, Rafael Struick

Coach: Shin Tae-yong

China Taipei: Chang Hsiang-Chun, Liang Meng-Hsin (C), Yang Chia-Pao, Lu Cheng-En, Lin Chun Kai, Hsu Po-Chieh, Chao Wei-Chieh, Ng Pui-Hei, Liu Hsuan-Wei, Cheng Chung-Liang

Coach: Tseng Tai-Lin.