The Indonesian national soccer team failed to make a great start in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers, when it lost to Malaysia 2-3 in its opening qualifier match on Thursday (5/9/2019).
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JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Indonesian national soccer team failed to make a great start in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers, when it lost to Malaysia 2-3 in its opening qualifier match on Thursday (5/9/2019) at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. Malaysia has forced the Garuda team to face reality.
Indonesia also failed to be a gracious host during the match, due to the unsportsmanlike conduct of some supporters.
The first Group G match of the second qualifying round reflects the bitter reality that making it to the 2020 World Cup may be nothing more than a pipe dream for Indonesia. Indonesia is not yet ready to rise to the level of international soccer competitions, as it has yet to be the best in Southeast Asia.
In order to win the group stage in this qualification round, Indonesia needs to finish at least second and defeat the other Southeast Asian teams in Group G, including Thailand and Vietnam. United Arab Emirates is the favorite to win Group G.
Indonesian national team coach Simon McMenemy used a more aggressive approach in the qualifier match. The Scotsman had directed his team to launch quick attacks, a strategy that proved effective at the start of the match.
Team Garuda started the match well, with effective teamwork in attacking the Malaysian defense. Striker Alberto "Beto" Goncalves contributed two goals for Indonesia in the first half, but Malaysia\'s Mohamadou Sumareh managed to break through Indonesia\'s defense and score one retaliatory goal in the first half.
Malaysia\'s Muhammad Syafiq Ahmad then scored an equalizer in the second half to bring the score to 2-2. The Malayan Tigers clinched their victory with Sumareh\'s goal at the seventh minute of injury time.
"The defeat is hard to swallow and of course hurts everyone. We played according to our strategy. However, our players got tired," said McMenemy.
Almost all Indonesian players were tired in the second half, and defender Ricky Fajrin Saputra was injured.
Under this condition, McMenemy\'s aggressive strategy became useless. He had to face the fact that the Garudas need to improve in many fundamentals.
McMenemy said that he hoped the players could work under a good system, including a comfortable league schedule. A league schedule packed with matches that frequently overlapped the national team\'s training schedule could disrupt the players\' rhythm and stamina. Indonesia will now need to get back on its feet to face its next match against Thailand on Tuesday (10/9/2019).
Indonesia\'s defeat was made even bitterer by the conduct of certain fans who assaulted Malaysian supporters in the stands.
Indonesian supporters had been shouting slurs at the Malaysian supporters since the start of the match. During the second half, several Indonesian supporters climbed down to the track to chase Malaysian fans, with some throwing plastic bottles at the Malaysian supporters.
"The incident involving [our] supporters drove us to win the match. We succeeded, and we are happy to have scored three points," said Sumareh.