National Football Dynamics Notes During 2023

Photo Illustration (between)

JAKARTA - Entering the second half of 2023, various events have again graced the national football play. Starting from the issuance of Liga 1 for the 2023/2024 season, the appearance of the U-23 national team, the appearance of the senior national team, to the preparation for the 2024 Asian Cup.

July

Liga 1 2023/2024 restarted on July 1, bringing together defending champions Bali United against PSS Sleman at the I Wayan Dipta Stadium, Gianyar. PSS won the match with a 1-0 win thanks to Ricky Cawor's goal.

PT LIB implemented a number of changes to Liga 1 2023/2024 compared to the previous season. Such as the format of the championship round which brought together the four top-ranked clubs at the end of the season, to fight for the title.

PT LIB as the league operator also added the quota of foreign players from four to six people, with details of four free players from their country, one player must come from Asia, and one more player from Southeast Asia. The operator also requires the club to play a U22 player for at least 45 minutes.

August

After leading the senior national team in June to play two FIFA Match Day matches against Palestine and Argentina, in August coach Shin Tae-yong again handled the U-23 national team for the AFF U-23 Cup in Thailand.

Being in Group B, Indonesia lost 1-2 to Malaysia in the opening match, but was able to win 1-0 over Timor Leste to qualify for the knockout stages. In the semifinals, Indonesia was able to beat the hosts Thailand with a 3-1 win through goals from Jean Kelly Sroyer, Muhammad Ferarri, and an opposing player's own goal.

In the final match, Indonesia met Vietnam. The match against Vietnam was tough and did not produce a goal at all until normal time was over, so the winner had to be searched for on penalties. Until five kickers, both teams managed to enter the ball, until the sixth kicker of Indonesia Ernando Ari arrived. The goalkeeper failed to enter the ball, and made Vietnam able to win 6-5 on penalties.

September

Coach Shin Tae-yong again led the age group national team in September, namely the U-23 national team in the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers, which took place from September 6 to 12. Indonesia occupies Group K with Taiwan and Turkmenistan, and all matches are played at Manahan Stadium, Solo, Central Java.

Indonesia kemudian mencatat sejarah dengan berhasil lolos untuk pertama kalinya ke Piala Asia U-23. Timnas U-23 menjadi juara grup K dengan koleksi enam poin, hasil dari kemenangan 9-0 atas Taiwan dan 2-0 atas Turkmenistan.

The U-23 Asian Cup itself also applies as a qualifying tournament for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The winning team, second place, and third place in the U-23 Asian Cup will be entitled to appear at the Paris Olympics.

With the passing of the U23 national team, Shin recorded himself as a coach who was able to pass 3 levels of the Indonesian national team to the Asian Cup, namely the 2023 U20 Asian Cup, 2024 U23 Asian Cup and 2023 Asian Cup (senior).

In addition to coaching the U-23 national team, Coach Shin Tae-yong also had to prepare a senior team to play the FIFA Match Day match against Turkmenistan. STY flew from Solo to Surabaya to prepare the senior national team to play at Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium on September 8.

The national team was then able to win 2-0 over Turkmenistan, and then made them able to move up to 146th in the list of FIFA rankings for the September 2023 version.

In the same month, Indra Sjafri's U-24 national team played at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, which could only be implemented in September 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Group F of the 2022 Asian Games, Indonesia opened a 2-0 win over Kyrgistan (19/9), then lost 0-1 to Taiwan (21/9), and lost 0-1 to North Korea (24/9). But they were entitled to qualify for the last 16 phase as one of the best third-placed teams, before being defeated by Uzbekistan 0-2 (28/9).

In September, the 2023/2024 League 2 season was rolled out again after the previous season had to stop in the middle of the road due to the Kanjuruhan tragedy. Participants in the 2023/2024 League 2 season competition are the same as the previous season, namely 28 clubs.

October

In October, Indonesia played the 2026 World Cup qualifiers from the most basic round, round 1 Asia. The national team played two legs against Brunei Darussalam.

In the first match played in Indonesia on October 12, the national team won 6-0. Meanwhile, in the second match played at the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Stadium on October 17, Indonesia won 6-0 again. Aggregate 12-0 for the Indonesian national team.

Indonesia also qualified for round 2 Asia and lived in Group F with Iraq, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

November

As a continuation of the 2026 round 1 World Cup qualifiers, Indonesia also played round 2. Unfortunately, they failed to shine after the first match (16/11), the national team lost 1-5 to the host Iraq. Furthermore, in the second match (21/11), they drew 2-2 with the host Philippines.

Both results made the national team occupy the caretaker position of Group F with only one point, and had to work hard in the remaining four matches to qualify for round 3.

In November, Indonesia also hosted the 2023 U-17 World Cup. The U-17 national team drew 1-1 with Ecuador (10/11), then drew 1-1 with Panama (13/11), before losing 1-3 to Morocco (16/11). These results make Indonesia U-17 occupy third place in Group A standings with a collection of two points.

Unfortunately, Indonesia failed to qualify for the knockout round due to losing to competing with other best third-placed teams, namely Iran (6 points), Japan (6 points), Uzbekistan (4 points), and Venezuela (4 points).

In November, the closeness between PSSI and FIFA was increasingly realized. FIFA officially opened an office at Menara Mandiri, Jakarta, on November 10. The opening of the FIFA office was marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

December

In the last month in 2023, the Indonesian national team conducted a Training Camp to meet the 2024 Asian Cup in Turkey, from December 20 to January 6. In addition to undergoing training, coach Shin Tae-Yong's national team will also play a test match against Libya and Iran

In December, to be precise on December 6, Justin Hubner officially became an Indonesian citizen after undergoing the oath procession. After Justin, the defender of Serie B Venezia club, Jay Idzes, also underwent the oath of allegiance as an Indonesian citizen on Thursday (28/12).

Justin and Jay may be the cover of the naturalized wave in 2023, but at the end of the year, another name is being sought by PSSI to be able to immediately have Indonesian citizens, namely the midfielder of the Heerenzen club, Thom Haye. Thom is known to have been in Indonesia since Thursday or the same day Jay took an oath of nationality, to undergo a number of naturalization processes.