Pratama Arhan Confirmed Absent In Leg 1 Of The 2020 AFF Cup Final Due To Yellow Card Accumulation

Primary Arhan (Photo: PSSI)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team will play the final first leg against Thailand on Wednesday, December 29. However, ahead of this important match, one national team player is confirmed to be absent.

The player is Primary Arhan. The left-back of the Garuda squad had to be absent due to the accumulation of cards obtained from the previous match against Singapore.

Arhan's absence was also confirmed by the assistant coach of the national team, Nova Arianto. He said Arhan could not participate in defending the Garuda squad in the first leg against Thailand.

"It's true (Pratama Arhan was accumulated for the first leg final) and it has been corrected. It was after the penalty incident at the last minute of the second half (against Singapore)", Nova said in a written statement received Tuesday, December 28.

Regarding Arhan's absence, Nova said that previously in the match statistics, it was written that Indonesia only got one yellow card in the name of Fachruddin Wahyudi Aryanto.

But then the AFF corrected the statistical records and stated that Arhan had accumulated, so he certainly would not play when the Garuda Squad met the War Elephant Team in the first leg.

The Semarang Indonesian Football Association (PSIS) player received a yellow card in the two semifinal legs against Singapore. In the first leg, Arhan was presented with a card by referee Kim Hee Gon after fouling The Lions midfielder, Song Ui Yong.

Meanwhile, in the second leg, Arhan was involved in an incident in the last minute of normal time. At that time he was considered to have violated Shawal Anuar which made the referee award a penalty kick for the hosts.

Luckily, the penalty for Singapore which was executed by Faris Ramli did not change the score because of a brilliant save by Nadeo Argawinata.