The Indonesian Vs Iraq National Team In The First Match Of The 2023 Asian Cup, Shin Tae-yong Don't Think About Negative Results

The coach of the Indonesian national team, Shin Tae-yong. (Ist)

JAKARTA - The coach of the Indonesian national team, Shin Tae-yong, will seek maximum results when the team plays their first match against Iraq in the 2023 Asian Cup. He realized that the opponent this time was a strong team looking at the previous experience, but Shin Tae-yong did not think about negative results for the team.

The Indonesian and Iraqi national teams had indeed met in the Asian zone 2026 World Cup qualifying match last November. At that time, the national team received bitter results because they lost 1-5 to the host.

This time the national team again had the opportunity to meet the Mesopotamian Lion in a different competition. Armed with experience, Shin Tae-yong admitted that he had a picture of the opponent's game.

The South Korean coach also admitted that Iraq is a strong team, but the current level of the Indonesian national team is different from the previous fight, making Shin insist his team will no longer be battered and he will not think about a negative result at all.

"We've played against Iraq during the World Cup qualifiers. We all know they're very strong, but I don't have negative thoughts about the results after 90 minutes of the game," Shin Tae-yong said in a press conference session ahead of the match. quoted from the AFC Asian Cup YouTube channel, Sunday January 14, 2024.

"If you think that our performance rate tomorrow is the same as before, I would recommend reconsidering your opinion. This is not a warning, but I just want to say that," he continued.

Shin Tae-yong's confidence in his team was not without reason, because before appearing in the inaugural match of the 2023 Asian Cup, the national team had gone through a long preparation by holding a training camp in Turkey from December 20, 2023 to January 6, 2024.

In that agenda, Asnawi Mangkualam et al also conducted three trials against Libya and Iran. As a result, the Indonesian national team was silenced twice by Libya with a score of 0-4 and 1-2 and lost 0-5 to Iran.

Even though it reaped unsatisfactory results, this did not make Shin Tae-yong dizzy, because he saw there was progress in the team. However, Shin Tae-yong did not want to boast that he would only show that the team would perform optimally from before.

"Once again I can't say the exact results, but you can expect our performance to be better than before," he said.