U-20 Opponent Trial, Indra Sjafri Afri Affirms Indonesia U-20 Without Special Preparation

JAKARTA - The U-20 Indonesian national team will again play a test match against Uzbekistan U-20 on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, at the Madya Stadium, Senayan, Jakarta.

Coach Indra Sjafri emphasized that Garuda Muda did not have special preparations. He emphasized that he would focus on the development of his team when we met in the U-20 Indonesian national team training at Stadium A, Senayan, Jakarta, Monday, January 29, 2024. "There is no such thing (special preparation). Ordinary, what is clear is that we carry out the roadmap that we have. There is no specific preparation for facing Uzbekistan. We will concentrate on our team," said Indra Sjafri.

This trial match against Uzbekistan is the second agenda run by Indonesia U-20 in preparation for the 2024 AFF U-19 Cup. Later it will lead to the 2025 U-20 World Cup Qualification in Chile.

Before facing Uzbekistan, the U-20 Indonesian national team had tested their abilities by facing Thailand U-20. In the match which took place on January 26, 2024, the results were not satisfactory because Garuda Muda lost 1-2.

However, the results were not too highlighted by Indra Sjafri. On the same occasion, he emphasized that his focus was on making this trial to evaluate and see the development of players.

"First, of course this (trial) is a continuation of the process of forming the U-20 Indonesian national team. I convey that we have indeed made it a means to ascertain who the players are, whose quality we want and are included in our qualifications," said Indra Sjafri.

"Therefore, we see the parameters of the tests we did earlier, from these two trials, including several internal games that are our record."

Indra Sjafri further said that the main goal of this trial would be a means of evaluating the performance of each player. Not surprisingly, he emphasized that rotation is something he will definitely do.

"Certainly it (rotation). This is a game to try out players. Therefore, we will appear the same as yesterday (against Thailand)."

"In the first half (against Thailand), we played with other line-up players. We changed the second half to other players. That (rotation) is a definite thing," he said.