Not Provoked Responding To The Urge Of The National Team To Leave The AFF, PSSI Chairman: It's Not Impossible, But Too Early

PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. PSSI)

JAKARTA - PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir responded to the pressure that was busy asking the Indonesian national team to leave the AFF activity after the hot incident that occurred against Vietnam in the 2023 AFF U-23 Cup final. He admitted that he might reduce the schedule that did not match FIFA's calendar.

The pressure not to get involved in other activities held by AFF was intensively echoed because many parties felt that the national team was disadvantaged by the performance of the AFF referee.

One of the incidents highlighted was the elbow of Vietnam's player, Nguyen Hong Phuc against Haykal Alhafiz who received no reward from the referee on duty.

This moment made the tension of supporters and a number of parties to increase the performance of the referee. Madura United President Achsanul Qosasi even had time to urge PSSI not to involve the national team in the AFF tournament if the incident was not followed up.

Erick Thohir himself understands the anger of supporters and a number of parties towards AFF. But rather than being provoked by the hot situation, he wanted PSSI to focus more on fixing the schedule so that the national team could appear calmly.

"The push (out of the AFF) emerged from supporters' friends and the public. But if we are at PSSI, we want to synchronize the schedule between the national, league and international teams," said Erick Thohir in a statement after watching the U-17 national team test match at Patriot Stadium Chandrabhaga, Bekasi 30 August.

"If we feel that our number of players is not enough and the schedule is too busy, it's not impossible that we can also reduce matches that are not in accordance with the FIFA calendar. But it's too early for that (to leave the AFF)," he continued explaining the situation.

In contrast to Erick Thohir's attitude, which was not provoked by the hot situation, Shin Tae-yong as the national team coach openly expressed his frustration with the referee's performance during the 2023 AFF U-23 Cup.

Even the South Korean coach did not hesitate to upload a video on his social media showing a number of referee decisions that harmed Indonesia in the final match of the AFF U-23 Cup against Vietnam.