After The 2023 Asian Cup, Shin Tae-yong Expects Players To Play More Minutes At The Club

Shin Tae-yong wants Indonesian national team players to play a lot for the club (doc. PSSI).

JAKARTA - The coach of the Indonesian national team, Shin Tae-yong, expressed his hopes for his players after struggling in the 2023 Asian Cup. He wants the players to have more playing opportunities at their respective clubs.

After the elimination of the Indonesian national team in the round of 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup, the players returned to their respective clubs. Shin Tae-yong wants the players involved in many club level matches as a provision to strengthen the Indonesian national team again.

The reason is, in March 2024, Indonesia will again play two matches against Vietnam in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers in the Asian Zone.

"When the players returned to the club, only a few of them played consistently (in getting minutes to play)," Shin Tae-yong was quoted as saying by South Korean media, Star News Korea, on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

Pratama Arhan and Elkan Baggott are examples of players who rarely get the opportunity to play at the club. Both of them seem to get more time to play in the Indonesian national team than at the club.

No wonder, Shin Tae-yong also complained about the basic abilities of the players which he considered less controlled. One of them is the basic technique for passing and controlling good and correct balls.

In fact, according to Shin Tae-yong, the national team coach only needs to finalize tactics. Player abilities should have been honed at their respective clubs

"We have to call the players who are good in the league and wear the Indonesian national team uniform. However, we don't have enough time to do that because we have to increase stamina and performance (in the Indonesian national team)," said Shin Tae-yong.

"If we have more time, we can show better progress. Players will be better if they play more. We will also be better off in the quarter-finals (Asian Cup)," he said.