JAKARTA - The coach of the Thailand U-23 national team, Alexandre Polking, said he was happy ahead of his team's meeting with the U-23 Indonesia national team in the 2021 SEA Games semifinals. The reason is that in that match, the Indonesian national team will not be strengthened by Asnawi Mangkualam.
Thailand will meet Indonesia at Thien Truong Stadium, Nam Dinh on Thursday, May 19 at 16.00 p.m. GMT+7 (Indonesian Time). In that match, Asnawi was confirmed to be absent from defending the Garuda Squad due to the accumulation of yellow cards.
With Asnawi's ability and experience, the absence of right-back Ansan Greeners is certainly a big loss for Garuda Muda. However, for Polking, Asnawi's absence will benefit his team.
"Indonesia has a lot of naturalized players and players who are playing abroad, it makes a difference in the Indonesian team. For example, Asnawi, a right-back who plays in South Korea," said Polking.
"He (Asnawi) is a good player but cannot play in this match. Asnawi's game can be a differentiator for this match, but his absence will be an advantage," Polking added, quoted from Siam Sport.
Asnawi's absence in the match against Thailand will make Shin Tae-yong have to devise tactics to mix up his squad. However, the Indonesian national team coach explained that there was still a great opportunity to play Ilham Rio Fahmi as a substitute for Asnawi.
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On the other hand, Polking also said that his squad has no less great quality to face Indonesia in the semifinals later. With that belief, Polking chose to forget the record of the previous meetings between the two teams and focus on the upcoming match because both Thailand and Indonesia continue to get better and better.
"Our players have good quality and perform well. They have a good future for the senior Thailand national team. The statistics of the previous meeting against Indonesia are not important, because the current Indonesian national team is very good and has a good future," Polking concluded.
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