JAKARTA The coach of the Indonesian U-23 national team, Indra Sjafri, revealed two reasons why his squad lost against Taiwan in the 2023 Asian Games group stage Hangzhou.
The Garuda squad's dream of getting a ticket to the knockout round had to be delayed after suffering a 0-1 defeat in the second match of the Group F phase at Zhejiang Normal University East Stadium, Jinhua, Thursday, September 21 evening WIB.
Indra said that one of the problems that made his team have to accept defeat was players who could not develop as expected.
"Then there are many errors in passing and also the movement without the ball from the players is also not visible," said Indra after the match.
The defeat against Taiwan made Indonesia's chances of qualifying for the knockout stages narrow. To keep the chance to qualify, the Indra squad had to win the last match against North Korea.
If they win, Indonesia's hope to qualify is open. With their records, they must at least be the group runners up in the final standings.
Indra said getting a win in the last match was a tough job for his team. The reason is, on North Korean paper it is a favorite compared to Indonesia.
"I think this will be our evaluation material later. We have to face one more game. Like it or not, we have to work hard to qualify in this group," said Indra.
"But, earlier if we could win the match in the third match we could have been a bit less chased away. But, now we have to win the last match," he added.
Indonesia should have locked the ticket to the round of 16 if it had won against Taiwan. As long as that happens, Indonesia's position will still qualify even if it loses in the last match.
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