Creating the Golden Year of the Indonesian National Team

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

The thirst for titles is engulfing the coaching team and players Indonesian National team who will compete in the final AFF Futsal 2022 against Thailand, Sunday (10/4).

A little backwards, the Indonesian Futsal Federation (FFI) is confident that it can appear in the 2021 Futsal World Cup. Unfortunately the qualification for the event was lost because the 2020 Futsal Asian Cup was cancelled.

Because the 2020 Asian Cup was cancelled, the AFC decided that Asia’s representatives at the 2021 World Cup were determined in two ways. The first five teams of the 2018 edition, and the second calculates team points from the 2014, 2016 and 2018 Asian Futsal Cups.

Given that the Indonesian national team did not appear in the 2018 and 2016 editions, and did not qualify for the group stage in 2014, the chances of appearing in the 2021 World Cup were automatically closed. This is a very unfortunate thing.

The reason is that FFI is very confident that the Garuda team will penetrate the semifinals of the 2020 Asian Cup or win a ticket to the 2021 World Cup. However, the rice has turned into porridge and this bitter fate is trying to be used as a lesson.

Now, the Indonesian national team has started a new mission to appear in the 2024 Futsal World Cup. One step has been taken by winning a ticket to the 2022 Asian Cup for appearing in the 2022 AFF Futsal final.

The next step is to become the best team in Southeast Asia. So far, no team has been able to shift Thailand’s dominance. Indonesia had indeed won the 2010 AFF Futsal, but at that time Thailand was absent.

The fifth final in AFF Futsal will prove that Indonesia is at the level of Thailand and has the right to appear in the Asian Cup and then the World Cup. Beating Thailand is not an easy matter, but the chances are open.

The current Indonesian national team squad is the best squad of half a decade. Nine of the 14 Indonesian national team players are graduates of the 2017 and 2019 U-20 Asian Cups. They both qualified for the group stage.

In terms of age, only one player has three heads, namely goalkeeper Iksan Rahadian. The rest are players under 28 years old. Dewa Rizki Amanda became the youngest player at 21 years.

Indonesia’s national team players are currently dominated by three clubs: Bintang Timur, Black Steel, and Cosmo JNE. There is only one player who is not from the club, namely Marvin Alexa from Kancil BBK.

Against this backdrop, a golden year is to be created this 2022. FFI wants the 2022 AFF Futsal title, SEA Games gold medal, to reach the 2022 Asian Cup semifinals, which means appearing in the 2024 World Cup.