JAKARTA - The 18th week of the 2025/2026 Super League will be played by Madura United with an away match to Persija Jakarta headquarters. The match takes place at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, on Friday, January 23, 2026, at 19.00 WIB.
Ahead of the match, Carlos Parreira as Madura United's coach confirmed that he had asked his students not to lower their guard. This concerns Persija's shaky situation without the presence of five of its mainstay players.
"We know they have this problem (player crisis), but I have known the coach (Persija) Mauricio (Souza) from Brazil for a long time."
"We know each other, I know he is preparing something in this match, so vigilance is important," Carlos Parreira said at a press conference on Thursday, January 23, 2026.
In this 18th week, Persija was forced to perform without five of its players. Van Basty Sousa, Fabio Calonego, Bruno Tubarao, and Ryo Matsumura had to be absent due to sanctions, while Hanif Sjahbandi was absent due to injury.
Caution is still applied by Carlos Parreira because he considers Persija to be a team that is strengthened by many quality players. Therefore, the players who will be brought down also have good quality.
"Of course the team will also remain strong. They have very good players to replace," he said.
However, the Brazilian coach did not want to think too much about Persija's situation. He is more focused on preparing the team to perform optimally. Moreover, Madura United is trying to rise after the last two matches suffered consecutive defeats.
"Our preparations are very good. We are confident we can come here and get good results," said the coach confidently.
The confidence of the 44-year-old coach increased because at this time Madura United got additional strength to welcome this match. There are two new foreign players who were brought in in the second round, they are Riquelme Sousa and Junior Brandao who can even be played.
"We also have some players who have just recovered from injuries, some players who have just received a red card. I think tomorrow we will perform strongly," he said.
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