Carlos Pena Praises The Performance Of 2 U-16 National Team Entrance Players In The 2024 Presidential Cup

Zahaby Gholy made his Persija Jakarta debut in the 2024 Presidential Cup (Instagram/@persija).

JAKARTA - Persija Jakarta coach, Carlos Pena, praised the performances of Muhamad Zahaby Gholy and Aditya Warman while defending the team in the inaugural match of Group B of the 2024 Presidential Cup. He said he was satisfied with the performance of the two names of the Indonesian U-16 national team dropouts.

Persija Jakarta appeared to face Madura United at the I Wayan Dipta Stadium, Gianyar, on Sunday, July 21, 2024, WIB night. In that match Gholy and Aditya made their debut as Kemayoran Tigers and succeeded in bringing the team to a 2-1 win.

Gholy and Aditya Warman have the status of substitutes. Carlos Pena fielded them in the second half. When both were included, Persija had a 2-1 advantage over Madura which lasted until the end of the game.

Seeing the performance of the two young players on the field, Carlos Pena said that Gholy and Aditya deserved the opportunity.

"They help the team to maintain results and I like to work with young players," Carlos Pena said at a press conference after the match, quoted on Monday, July 22, 2024.

"They deserve to be played. They trained last week, so they had a chance. They had a chance. They helped the team. Congratulations to them," he said again.

Gholy previously stole the attention of national football lovers while strengthening the U-16 Indonesian national team in the U-16 AFF Cup in early July 2024. He was even named the Best Player of the event.

Meanwhile, Aditya Warman was previously a Persija U-20 player since 2023. Only this season was promoted to the main team of the Kemayoran Tigers.

In the match against Madura United, Carlos played almost all the substitutes he brought. Only Muhammad Alwi Fadilah, Jehan Pahlevi, Aji Kusuma, and goalkeeper Cahya Supriyadi were not played.

Apart from Gholy and Aditya Warman, other substitutes such as Rio Fahmi, Ramon Bueno, Maciej Gajos, Akbar Arjunsyah, Gustavo Almeida, and Witan Sulaeman were given the opportunity to play in the second half.

Carlos assessed that this was done to test the majority of the players he brought to Bali, as well as to prevent the risk of injury.

"We played three games in a short duration, there was a risk of injury. We need to maximize all squads."

"I am very happy with the core players and substitutes because they have a big impact on the game. So, we can get up in the second half," said Carlos.

"This will be a tournament where we play everything. So, before the game I felt it was a good opportunity for all the players we had," said the Spaniard.

After winning the first match, then Persija will challenge Arema FC on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Meanwhile Madura United will host Bali United on the same day.