KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA
U-23 National Team player, Ivar Jenner, runs when facing Turkmenistan in the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup Qualification round at Manahan Stadium, Surakarta City, Tuesday (12/9/2023).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The coach of the Indonesian U-23 football team, Shin Tae-yong, has summoned 28 players to compete in the U-23 Asian Cup on April 15-May 3. Four of the 28 players are naturalized players who compete in Europe. The “Garuda Muda” team is threatened without full strength because only two of the four naturalized players have joined the training camp.
Two naturalized players, Rafael Struick and Ivar Jenner, are the latest players to join the Indonesian U-23 team’s training camp at the Al Nasr SC complex in Dubai. Previously, the team coached by Coach Shin Tae-yong had undergone training to restore stamina and adjust their physical condition on Tuesday (2/4/2024) evening local time.
The joining of Rafael and Ivar indicates that PSSI’s efforts to negotiate with the club that houses them have been successful. Rafael is currently competing in the second caste of the Dutch League with ADO Den Haag.
Meanwhile, Ivar is a player for Jong Utrecht or the FC Utrecht U-21 team. It was previously feared that ADO Den Haag and Jong Utrecht would not release Rafael and Ivar because the U-23 Asian Cup was not an official FIFA agenda.
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KOMPAS/P RADITYA MAHENDRA YASA
U-23 national team player, Rafael William Struick, tries to get past Turkmenistan player, Umarov Salim, in the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup Qualification round at Manahan Stadium, Surakarta City, Tuesday (12/9/2023). Indonesia’s 2-0 victory over Turkmenistan sent the national team to the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup in Qatar.
Even though the two players were confirmed to be playing in the Asian Cup, problems for Shin arose because the other two players, Justin Hubner and Nathan Tjoe-A-On, were not seen until the team’s fourth day in Dubai.
Like Rafael and Ivar, PSSI has actually also communicated with Cerezo Osaka, the club where Hubner plays and SC Heerenven which is currently using Nathan’s services as a loan player from Swansea City.
“For Justin Hubner and Nathan Tjoe-A-On, there is currently no certainty. So, we have to look at the situation first,” said Shin, quoted from the PSSI website, Thursday (4/4/2024).
If Hubner and Nathan do not join, it will be a big loss for Indonesia. These four naturalized players were also Shin’s mainstay when the Indonesian National Team played their 2026 World Cup Qualification match against Vietnam last month.
Also read: Indonesia is heading towards the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup
For Justin Hubner and Nathan Tjoe-A-On, there is currently no certainty.
KOMPAS/FAKHRI FADLURROHMAN
Indonesian national team player, Justin Hubner (right), fights for the ball with Vietnam national team player, Pham Xuan Manh, during the 2026 World Cup qualifying match at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Thursday (21/3/2024). Indonesia beat Vietnam with a narrow score of 1-0.
Their experience in European football can add to the strength of “Young Garuda”. Moreover, Hubner, Rafael and Ivar have competed with the senior team in the Asian Cup earlier this year at the same location as the U-23 Asian Cup, namely Qatar. That way, they should not have problems adapting to the climate and tournament atmosphere.
Apart from Hubner and Nathan, defender Alfeandra Dewangga has not yet joined the team. According to the plan, the PSIS Semarang player will follow him to Dubai after undergoing post-operative recovery in Jakarta.
Even though the number of players is not yet complete, Shin still holds regular training. If the first day of training is focused on recovering physical condition and stamina, the second day is focused on understanding tactics. This is because the Indonesian U-23 team will try out Saudi Arabia in a trial match which will be held behind closed doors on Friday (5/4/2024).
“For the second day of training we mostly practiced passing, after passing it was rondo (cat and mouse), then we went into tactics. “During afternoon training we also do additional core (exercises to increase body stability strength),” said Indonesian striker, Ramadhan Sananta.
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KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO
Indonesian national team player, Ramadhan Sananta, celebrates after scoring the third goal for Indonesia against Brunei Darussalam in the 2026 World Cup qualifying match at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium, Senayan, Central Jakarta, Thursday (12/10/2023).
Apart from facing Saudi Arabia, “Young Garuda” is also scheduled to have a test match with the United Arab Emirates on Monday (8/4/2024), which will also be held behind closed doors. In the U-23 Asian Cup, Indonesia is in Group A with hosts Qatar, Jordan and Australia. Indonesia immediately underwent a tough match by facing Qatar in the opening match of the tournament.
The U-23 Asian Cup was held for the first time in 2013. Since that first edition, Indonesia has never once qualified for the finals. In this first participation, PSSI targets Shin to be able to bring “Garuda Muda” through to the last eight.
For Shin, the U-23 Asian Cup will also determine whether his contract will be extended by PSSI or not. Shin is under contract to handle Indonesia until next June. The problem was, this time Shin only had around 14 days to prepare the team. This is different from the senior Asian Cup, where at that time Shin had more than 20 days to prepare his troops.
The U-23 Asian Cup is also a qualifying event to appear at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Later, the top three teams at the end of the tournament will be entitled to get tickets to go directly to Paris to represent Asia.
2024-04-04 11:28:38
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