JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team swallowed a bitter result after playing their inaugural Group D match for the 2023 Asian Cup against Iraq. The Garuda squad failed to score points after losing 1-3 at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium on Monday, January 15, 2024.
This failure made Shin Tae-yong, the coach of the Indonesian national team, not pessimistic about the chances of his team qualifying for the last 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup.
Although the group's inaugural match did not match the target of the series revealed by Shin Tae-yong, optimism for qualifying for the knockout phase still soared.
"From the perspective of the match, we had the opportunity to go to the next round. Iraq did lead this game. They dominated 60 percent of the ball. They were better than us," said Shin Tae-yong after the match.
Shin Tae-yong's optimism cannot be separated from his experience in dealing with South Korea in the 2018 Duia Cup. At that time with confidence, he was able to deliver South Korea into a surprise by beating Germany 2-0, which for him nothing was impossible in football.
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"No one expected that (South Korea to win), but we can still win against Germany while I work in the South Korean national team," he said.
"So, we (the Indonesian national team) will not give up. We will continue to run and we will challenge. We will not give up," said the coach.
Before appearing in the 2023 Asian Cup, Shin Tae-yong targeted Indonesia to qualify for the round of 16. The main scheme installed by the coach is to win or at least draw in the first match against Iraq.
Then, three points must be taken against Vietnam. Finally, the target against Japan is to lose or the maximum can be a draw.
This method is pegged so that at least the Garuda Squad can qualify for the last 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup through the best third-placed route.
However, the defeat against Iraq led the Indonesian national team to fight harder, namely to win over Vietnam and try to get points against Japan.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
