Review Of The Indonesian U-23 National Team Vs Australia U-23: Big Kans Breaks Bad Records

JAKARTA - The U-23 Indonesian national team will face Australia U-23 in the second match of Group A of the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Thursday, April 18, 2024, at 20.00 WIB.

The meeting between Indonesia U-23 and Australia U-23 is not the first time this has happened. Previously, they had met twice in the 2022 U-23 Asian Cup Qualification.

In the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup Qualification Group G match which was held in Tajikistan, Indonesia U-23 lost twice. First, Garuda Muda lost 2-3 (26/10/2021). Then, in the second encounter, Indonesia U-23 lost slightly 0-1 (29/10/2021).

No wonder, the meeting later on the U-23 Indonesian national team has ambitions to break this negative trend. Opportunities to win are open.

Although Garuda Muda lost Ivar Jenner and Ramadhan Sananta who had to be absent due to card accumulation, the arrival of Justin Hubner and additional strength from Nathan Tjoe-A-On made Shin Tae-yong calm.

The South Korean coach has a squad that is quite deep. Justin Hubner can replace Ivar, while in the front line there are still several names to fill the position of Ramadan Sananta.

Shin Tae-yong has also expressed high confidence in his foster children. He believes that Garuda Muda's mentality has been tested when he lost 0-2 against Qatar.

At that time, Indonesia U-23 played with a high determination and never gave up despite appearing with nine players.

In addition, Australia U-23 also did not appear convincing in the inaugural Group A match against Jordan. They only earned one point from 0-0.

In fact, Australia dominated the course of the match with 71 percent possession. They were able to release 13 shots, two of which were on target.

Australia is still having problems with the final settlement. They failed to break into the Jordanian goal despite winning the number of players since the 82nd minute following Danial Afeh's red card.

This weakness was acknowledged by Australian coach Tony Vidmar. He agrees that the difficulties of his team when facing the team with a neat and organized defense. "We know that ahead of this tournament there won't be an easy game. Jordan is a very well organized team, they defend very well, defend individually very well."

"You have to be aware that you want to score goals and create as many chances as you can. We want to play football at high speed."

"However, when you have a team that survives well and is well-structured, sometimes you have to work hard to create opportunities," said Vidmar.

This means that the U-23 Indonesian national team still has a chance to get three points from Australia U-23 if they have a good defense.

Playing Nathan from the start at the heart of the defense could be an option. In addition, installing Justin Hubner as a deterrent to attacks from midfield is also a weapon.

While the focus of defense, Garuda Muda needs to think about an effective counter-attack scheme to create goal opportunities.

The U-23 Indonesian national team is predicted to appear very stubborn in stealing three points. This big motivation is a danger signal for Australia because Garuda Muda is pursuing the target of passing the knockout phase of the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup.

Head-to-Head Indonesia U-23 vs Australia U-23

Indonesia U-23 vs Australia U-23 2-3 (U-23 2022 Asian Cup Qualification)

Australia U-23 vs Indonesia U-23 1-0 (2022 U-23 Asian Cup Qualification)

Forecast Formation Arrangement

Indonesia U-23 (5-4-1): Ernando Ari; Rio Fahmi, Muhammad Ferarri, Rizky Ridho, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Pratama Arhan; Witan Sulaeman, Justin Hubner, Arkhan Fikri, Marselino Ferdinand; Rafael Struick

Australia U-23 (4-4-2): Patrick Beach; Callum 2010, Jordan Courtney-Perkins, Alexandrandar Popovic, Jacob Farrell; Lachlan Brook, Rhys Youlley, Ryan Total, Nicolas Milanovic; Garang Kuol, Jake Hollman