Nova Arianto Includes High Terms For Indonesian U-16 National Team Players

JAKARTA - The U-16 Indonesian national team coach, Nova Arianto, has finished holding the first phase of the selection before the 2024 AFF U-16 Cup and the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup Qualification. Of the three selection waves, Nova Arianto emphasized that one of the important requirements is height.

After leading the training at Field A, Senayan, on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, Nova Arianto explained the reasons related to height standards. This cannot be separated from the coach's target of bringing the team to shine at the Asian level.

"Criteria for sure, height. I want to play at the Asian level," said Nova Arianto.

"The height of the body is very important, especially the defenders, goalkeepers, and strikers. I hope to have a posture of more than 175 cm," he said.

This standard is applied by Nova because he wants to prepare the genes of a sustainable national team at the level of the next age group.

"I am preparing the national team's gene in the future with a high posture. At least the player will increase by 1 cm per year."

"Take an example, the current player is 175 cm high, he will rise about 4 cm (minimal) or 179-180 cm high when he is even 20 years old."

"The level of players at the age of 20 is maximum. That's why I look for players with a minimum height of 175 cm," said Nova.

Furthermore, Nova also shared that the reason for applying a height of at least 175 cm was because of the experience that had been undertaken. Shin Tae-yong's assistant coach reflected on the appearance of the Indonesian national team in the 2023 Asian Cup.

At that time, Indonesia faced a team with a much higher posture, such as Iraq and Australia. This is quite an obstacle in providing resistance in the field.