Predictions Of The U-20 Indonesian Lineup Facing Uzbekistan U-20

JAKARTA - The coach of the Indonesian U-20 national team, Indra Sjafri, is likely to return his three-back formation in the second match of the 2025 U-20 Asian Cup against Uzbekistan after seeing the formation of four defenders applied against Iran in the first match not running smoothly.

With the formation of four defenders 4-3-3, Indonesia's game cannot develop well against Iran. In the end, they lost 0-3 to the Asian giant team.

Hesam Nafari, Esmail Gholizadeh, and Mobin Dehghan became Iranian goalscorers, all three of which came from Indonesia's failure to anticipate crosss.

If they lose against Uzbekistan, Indonesia's hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals will be very thin, and could even be dashed if in other matches Iran won from Yemen.

Therefore, it is not wrong if Indra gambles by returning his flagship formation 3-4-3, the formation used by Indonesia when he won the ASEAN Boys U-19 Championship 2024 and became the group winner of the 2025 U-20 Asian Cup qualifying round.

Ikram Algiffari is predicted to keep Indonesia's last gate under the crossbar. At the last three defenders, Indonesia can play its best formation on Muhamad Alfharezzi Buffon, Kadek Arel Priyatna, and Muhammad Iqbal.

With Buffon being the center-back, the right-back position can be filled by players who get enough minutes playing at PSM Makassar, Mufli Hidayat. Dony Tri Pamungkas will play his best role in the left-wing defender position.

In this formation, Kadek can also carry out the role of inverted which can move to midfield to stream the ball and add to the Garuda Nusantara team's bait option.

Welber Jardim and Toni Firmansyah can fill two positions in midfield to maintain the stability of playing the team. With Arlyansyah Abdulmanan's lack of maximum in the first match, Indra was able to include Marselinus Ama Ola who played quite well in the second half against Iran.

In the left-wing striker position, Muhammad Ragil can be re-launched from the start to help the spearhead of Indonesia, which is likely to still belong to Jens Raven.

Indonesia's second match against Uzbekistan was played on Sunday (16/2) at the Youth Football Training Center Stadium, Shenzhen, at 18.30 WIB.

The following is the prediction of the Indonesian U-20 vs Uzbekistan U-20 line-up:

Indonesia (3-4-3): Ikram Algiffari; Muhamad Alfharezzi Buffon, Kadek Arel Priyatna, Muhammad Iqbal, Dony Tri Pamungkas, Mufli Hidayat; Welfer Jardim, Toni Firmansyah; Marselinus Ama Ola, Jens Raven, Muhammad Ragil.

Coach: Indra Sjafri.