AFF U-16 Cup: Indonesia Without A Burden To Face Australia In The Semifinals

JAKARTA - The coach of the Indonesian U-16 national football team, Nova Arianto, hopes that his team can play without a burden against Australia in the 2024 AFF U-16 Cup semifinal match which will take place at Manahan Stadium, Solo, Monday (1/7).

On the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) website monitored by ANTARA in Jakarta, Sunday, he revealed that Indonesia qualified for the semifinals with the status of group A winners with a perfect score of 9 points.

Meanwhile, Australia won group C by packing 7 points.

According to him, the match will be interesting and tight for both national teams.

"Of course we are grateful that Indonesia qualified for the semifinals. The match against Australia is certainly not easy for us," said Nova.

Even so, he continued, his players were not afraid to face the Australian squad in the match.

"All the players are ready for tomorrow's match and show their best game," said the Indonesian football legend.

Nova added that he is optimistic that the Garuda Muda squad will perform well, because their development has been very positive since the inaugural match in the tournament. Nova Arianto's squad participated in the tournament with the status of defending champion, because they won in the 2022 edition, by defeating Vietnam in the top match.

At that time, the squad, which was still trained by Bima Sakti Tukiman, defeated Vietnam with a score of 1-0.

For the implementation of 2024, Indonesia is part of group A with Laos, the Philippines, and Singapore.