JAKARTA - Indonesian football lovers, should have fun. The beloved national team of all the people of the country, finally played an official international match.
The Garuda team will be challenged by their arch-enemy, Thailand, in the continued match of Group G 2022 World Cup Qualification in the Asian zone. Even though this match was no longer decisive for the Indonesian national team, but took revenge for the 0-3 defeat in the first match, so the price was fixed for Egy Maulana Vikri et al.
Apart from that, there is actually one thing to look forward to, namely the meeting between the two players who are touted as the 'Lionel Messi' of Southeast Asia. Yes, each team has a figure who is said to have a similar role to the Barcelona superstar and the Argentine national team.
In the Indonesian side, the Garuda Team has Egy Maulana Vikri. While in the White Elephant Country Team, they have Chanathip Songkrasin.
Egy (20), is a rising star of Indonesian football. His work began to stick out when he defended the U-19 Indonesian National Team created by Indra Sjafri four years ago. Without compromising the quality of other players, Egy's performance in the age group team was striking.
Egy's skill is above the average player of his age. The ability to dribble with his left foot, at first glance, is similar to Lionel Messi, who is fond of setting the rhythm of the game from the middle of the field while occasionally passing opponents with stunning tricks.
Egy's game was monitored by one of the teams from the Polish Premier League (Ekstralaksa), Lechia Gdansk. The club recruited Egy in July 2018 with a three-year contract period, at which time Egy was only 18!
Indeed, until now Lechia has not been able to fully play Egy in every match. However, Egy has brought the name of Indonesia to European soil, where not all players from the country are able to feel it.
Now, Egy is one of the coaches of the Indonesian national team, Shin Tae-yong in the Garuda attack line. The South Korean coach is indeed regenerating the Indonesian national team, and Egy is one of the many young players called by Shin to carry out the World Cup Qualification follow-up match.
Egy's appearance in the two test matches also deserves appreciation. In the match against Afghanistan, he scored one goal and one assist even though Indonesia lost 2-3.
The match against Thailand must also be a means of proving Egy to show his best qualities in the official event. On the other hand, the Thai national team itself has Chanathip, who should be able to become the "Messi" figure in the center field of the White Elephant Team.
However, the player was unable to compete due to injury. It's a shame, because the "Messi" duel should have happened in this match.
In terms of age and playing quality, Chanathip is clearly more mature than Egy. The 27-year-old petite player has been struggling in Thai football, until finally in 2017 he was able to play at Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo, the top caste club of Japanese football (J-League).
Extraordinary? Certain. Japan is one of the major powers of Asian football. The Land of the Rising Sun has even appeared in the World Cup several times, the fruit of quality local competitions and the development of qualified young players.
Unlike Egy, Chanathip is a key player in Consadole Sapporo. Serving as a playmaker, he has always been the first choice of the club coached by Mihailo Petrovic.
His achievements in the Thai national team were also not kidding. Chanathip managed to bring Thailand to win various events, such as the AFF Cup twice in 2014 and 2016.
Chanathip is trying to get his country out of the World Cup Qualifiers. What can you do, an injury has hampered his efforts a little, although this is certainly an advantage for Indonesia, aka at least Team Garuda has a great chance of defeating this arch enemy.
Maybe there are some viewers who are a little disappointed because the "prayer" to watch the duel "Messi Southeast Asia" was canceled. The Egy vs Chanathip duel should be a sweetener for the two Southeast Asian giants.
However, the victory of the Indonesian national team is the main "prayer" for football lovers in the country, which in the last 10 years, Team Garuda has only defeated Thailand once, namely in the first leg of the 2016 AFF Cup final with a score of 2-1.
Let's just pray that Egy and friends will succeed in conquering Thailand tonight at 23.45 which will be broadcast live by SCTV television station. Good luck Garuda!
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)
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