Shin Tae-yong's Reason For Changing 3 Players In The Second Round Against China

The Indonesian national team must recognize China's superiority (doc. AFC).

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team coach, Shin Tae-yong, revealed the reasons behind the decision to withdraw three players at the beginning of the second half before losing to China.

In that match, Shin Tae-yong decided to withdraw Mees Hilgers, Shayne Pattynama, and Witan Sulaeman at the beginning of the second half. The three were later replaced by Thom Haye, Rizky Ridho, and Marselino Ferdinand.

Prior to this change, Hilgers and Shayne were in the spotlight for making mistakes that made the Garuda squad conceded two goals in the first half.

However, regarding the change of players that later occurred, the South Korean coach admitted that the decision was taken because there were injured players.

"The reason I made three substitutions after the first half was because one of the defenders (Mees Hilgers) had an ankle injury."

"One other defender (Shayne Pattynama) is due to a less excellent condition," said Shin Tae-yong during a press conference after the match, quoted on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.

In the fourth match of Group C, the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualification at the Qingdao Stadium, Tuesday, October 16, 2024, the Indonesian national team had to lose to China 1-2.

The two goals the hosts scored were scored by Behram Abduweli in the 21st minute and Zhang Yuning in the 44th minute.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian national team was only able to reduce the gap through a single goal made by Thom Haye in the 86th minute.

Shin Tae-yong admits that Indonesia's game against China is in accordance with its initial strategy. However, the Red-White Team players failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

"We didn't play well against Bahrain, especially in possession. After the match against Bahrain, we tried to fix a few things."

"Actually, the flow of the game against China was what we wanted. It's just that we couldn't score a goal from the opportunity. Some of us were also unlucky to score goals," said Shin Tae-yong.

The South Korean coach promised to improve the team even better to look at the next match in the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.

"Furthermore, we will do our best and try even harder to get better," he said.

The Indonesian national team will next host Japan on November 15, 2024. Four days later, it was Saudi Arabia's turn to be Indonesia's opponent at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium, Jakarta.