The 15-year Wait For The Indonesian National Team In The Asian Cup Ended After They Beat Nepal 7-0

The Indonesian national team has qualified for the 2023 Asian Cup. (Doc, PSSI official site)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team has certainly qualified for the 2023 Asian Cup finals. The ticket was won after winning with a landslide score of 7-0 in the closing match of Group A of the 2023 Asian Cup Qualification at the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium, Kuwait, Wednesday, June 15, early morning of GMT+7 (Western Indonesian Time or WIB).

Indonesia confirmed a place in the 2023 Asian Cup because it was one of the five best second places, from six groups in the third qualifying round.

The Red and White Team has made five appearances in the Asian Cup after previously competing in the 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2007 editions. This also ends the 15-year wait for the Garuda Squad in the Asian Cup.

In the match against Nepal, the Indonesian national team coach Shin Tae-yong maintained the strategy of playing with three central defenders namely Elkan Baggott, Rizky Ridho and the captain Fachruddin Aryanto, the same as against Kuwait and Jordan.

With a 5-2-3 formation when defending and 3-4-3 when attacking, Indonesia started the match by directly pressing Nepal's defense, as reported by Antara.

Saddil Ramdani had threatened with a shot on target in the first minute. Continuing to attack, the “Garuda” squad finally opened the tap in the sixth minute through a header from Muhammad Dimas Drajad who continued to “assist” Asnawi Mangkualam.

However, after presenting a goal, Indonesia found its performance had decreased. Nepal used this to build the game by holding the ball longer.

However, this situation did not last long and Shin Tae-yong's children slowly returned to their rhythm before making their opponents panic.

These conditions made Nepal defender Suman Aryal commit a violation which resulted in a second yellow card or red card for him in the 33rd minute.

Playing with 10 men, Nepal increasingly struggled to keep up with Indonesia, who took full advantage of the excess personnel by scoring an additional goal in the 43rd minute through Witan Sulaeman's kick.

Asnawi Mangkualam was again the sender of "assist" after previously moving to comb the right sector to attack Indonesia.

Indonesia also led with a score of 2-0 until the match entered the interval.

After halftime, Shin entered new names such as Marselino Ferdinand and Muhammad Rafli. As a result, Indonesia became more "crazy".

In the 54th minute, Fachruddin Aryanto scored a goal using the chaos in front of the Nepal goal. Less than 60 seconds later, it was Saddil Ramdani's turn to add the score which made Indonesia even more in front, 4-0.

Central defender Elkan Baggot also plunged himself into Indonesia's goal feast with his goal from outside the penalty box in the 80th minute.

The euphoria for the goal was not finished yet, Witan Sulaeman presented his second goal in the match as well as the sixth goal for Indonesia.

17-year-old midfielder Marselino Ferdinand closed the game with his goal in the 90th minute which made Indonesia win seven goals without reply.