JAKARTA - Defender Asnawi Mangkualam has set a target before the departure of the Indonesian national team to Turkey. Asnawi is aiming for victory for the Garuda squad in order to increase their position in the FIFA rankings.
The Indonesian national team departed for Turkey on Thursday, November 11 evening to undergo a training camp as well as trials against Afghanistan and Myanmar.
Asnawi has undergone thorough preparations with his teammates. Therefore, he was confident by setting a victory target for the Garuda squad.
"Of course we hope that we will be able to get a victory in an important match (against Afghanistan) in order to increase the ranking in FIFA," said Asnawi Mangkualam during the release of the national team at the Sultan Hotel, Jakarta on Thursday night.
Asnawi saw the target for victory because he knew the schedule for the test against Afghanistan was FIFA's official agenda. That is, if the national team wins, it will automatically raise Indonesia's ranking.
In addition to helping raise the rankings, Asnawi's targeted victory is also expected to increase the team's confidence. The reason is, after the test match, the national team will immediately appear in the 2020 AFF Cup.
Asnawi also reflected on the good results achieved by the national team against Taiwan in the 2023 Asian Cup Qualification play-off. At that time, the national team managed to win from an opponent with a higher ranking.
"Hard work is necessary to get the best results and we can compete in the 2021 AFF Cup later. I am very proud because I played against Taiwan at that time, the FIFA ranking was above us and got a 5-1 aggregate result," he said.
The Indonesian national team will play a test match against Afghanistan on November 16, followed by Myanmar on November 25. After that, they will immediately go to Singapore to compete in the 2020 AFF Cup.
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