Shin Tae-yong Repays Overseas Club's Kindness in FIFA Friendly Match

Shin Tae-yong (Photo: PSSI)

JAKARTA - Indonesia's national team coach Shin Tae-yong confirmed that his squad will be without players playing abroad when they compete in the FIFA international friendly at the end of January.

"I will only call players from the Indonesian league", Shin told reporters in Jakarta, Thursday, quoted by Antara.

The decision was taken to repay the kindness of foreign clubs who had released their players to participate in the 2020 AFF Cup which had just passed again in Singapore even though the tournament was not on FIFA's agenda.

"The club has been kind enough to let go of its players and we have to repay that. So, this time we have to give in", said Shin.

Indonesia, which has just competed in the 2020 AFF Cup, has five players who play abroad, namely Witan Sulaeman who strengthens Polish League club Lechia Gdansk, Elkan Baggott who plays for Ipswich Town in England, and Syahrian Abimanyu who defends Johor Darul Ta'zim in Malaysia.

Then, Egy Maulana Vikri played for club FK Senica in the Slovak League and Asnawi Mangkualam for club Ansan Greeners in South Korea.

The FIFA international friendly fixtures are set for January 20 to 31, 2022.

Regarding the opponent, Shin Tae-yong admitted that he had already determined the opponent but only PSSI would announce it. The training camp (TC) date has not been set either.

"We still have to wait for the TC date because the league schedule is very tight. So we are still waiting for coordination between the league and PSSI", said Shin.