The U-20 RI National Team To Qatar, Indra Sjafri Opens Doors For Descendants Who Want To Join

U-20 national team (photo: PSSI)

JAKARTA - The coach of the Indonesian U-20 national team, Indra Sjafri, opened the door as wide as possible for the descendants to join his team in preparation for the 2025 U-20 World Cup in Chile.

Indra Sjafri and Garuda Muda troops have been in Qatar since last Saturday, December 23. The departure agenda for Qatar is a series of Training Centers (TC) to face an agenda throughout 2024 which will lead to the 2025 U-20 World Cup.

In preparation for this time, Indra Sjafri has brought 26 players, two of whom are Ji Da Bin and Hugo Samir are mixed-blooded players.

From the presence of the two names of descendants, Indra Sjafri did not rule out the possibility that he would welcome descendants abroad who wanted to attend. He opened this opportunity in the follow-up TC which will be carried out after returning from Qatar.

"We will call new players whose list we have inventoryed. We will also give opportunities to children (players) abroad later in stages," said Indra Sjafri.

"Finally, if there are players who are really special, whose quality is good, they are descendants (Indonesia) and want to play for Indonesia but do not yet have Indonesian citizenship, we will also submit to PSSI to be part of the Indonesian national team," he continued, quoted from the PSSI official website on Monday, December 25.

In the TC agenda in Qatar this time, Indra Sjafri and his troops will stay for one week. During this agenda, the coach will maximize his time to analyze the condition of the players related to the selection process.

"Later, over the next week we will focus on taking profiles from the players. We are doing several test items with the players in Qatar," explained the coach.

On the same occasion, the coach from West Sumatra also hopes that this TC moment can be used by the players well in showing their talents. Moreover, the background of each player also comes from different competitions.

"For the material for the early stage training camp players, it comes from U-17 national team players at the 2023 U-17 World Cup, League 1, League 2, League 3 and Asprov," he said.

He hopes that players will take this opportunity well while in Qatar.

"We certainly evaluate and there will be a promotion and relegation system for players," he said.

After completing the TC agenda in Qatar for one week, the Garuda Muda squad will continue the second TC agenda which will take place in Jakarta in January.

This preparation is a definite step to look at the 2024 AFF U-19 Cup and U-20 Asian Cup Qualifiers, where if they pass the U-20 national team they will compete in the 2025 U-20 World Cup in Chile.