Young Garuda succumbed to a 0-1 loss in the last match of the four-team tournament that summed up the host’s mediocre performance ahead of the U-20 World Cup Indonesia will host in May.
By
I GUSTI AGUNG BAGUS ANGGA PUTRA
·4 minutes read
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Indonesian U-20 team failed to cope with recurrent mistakes in the defense as it crashed to Guatemala in the U-20 Mini Tournament match at the Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Tuesday evening (21/2/2023). Young Garuda succumbed to a 0-1 loss in the last match of the four-team tournament that summed up the host’s mediocre performance ahead of the U-20 World Cup Indonesia will host in May.
Indonesian coach Shin Tae-yong seemed unable to find the formula to address poor coordination in defending, inaccurate passes and weak finishing by his players. It was also the loopholes at the back that led to Indonesia's 1-2 defeat to New Zealand in the previous match despite dominating ball possession and largely creating goal chances.
The sole goal for Guatemala's victory was scored by Jorge Abelardo Solorzano in the 22nd minute, which came after he capitalized on a mistake by defender Marcell Januar Putra. Under pressure, Marcell was forced to pass the ball to Arkhan Fikri. Marcell was simply unaware of the lurking threat, with Arkhan being under Solorzano’s close supervision.
Because of that miscued decision, Solorzano managed to intercept the ball from Arkhan's feet and chipped it past goalkeeper Daffa Fasya Sumawijaya, who had been in a position too distant off the goal post to tip away the ball.
In the second half of the game, Shin Tae-yong took out Marcell and played Sulthan Zaky. The coach also deployed three attacking-style players, Ronaldo Joybera Kwateh, Hokky Caraka and Hugo Samir, to add fuel to Indonesia's front line.
Their inclusion made Indonesia's game livelier, as Shin shifted his approach from two to three attackers.
However, young Garuda still found it difficult to score a goal because of Guatemala’s resolute defense via man-to-man marking to defuse Indonesia’s progressing headways to the front lines. Indonesia clearly dominated ball possession with match statistics showing a total of 609 passes compared to Guatemala’s 166.
Despite the domination, it appeared that Indonesia's game was contained in the final third of the opponent's defense area and rarely endangered the Guatemalan goal. Guatemala had to play with 10 men since the 58th minute following the expulsion of red-carded Julio Fernando Garcia, but Indonesia failed to make the most of the numerical advantage.
"Given the result of this match, [we were] unfortunate because there were [unnecessary] mistakes from our own and we failed to score," Shin said.
In the other match, New Zealand continued its positive trend by thumping Fiji 3-0. New Zealand's goals were scored by Charlie Beale, Oscar Obel Hall and Jay Herdman. It was New Zealand's back-to-back win with the other coming at the expense of Indonesia, 2-1. They lost 1-3 to Guatemala.
Asian Cup rehearsal
The U-20 Mini Tournament was held also as part Indonesia’s preparation for the U-20 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan, 1-18 March. Indonesia is grouped with host Uzbekistan, Syria and Iraq.
Shin had hoped the tournament against Fiji, Guatemala and New Zealand would shape up his players for the Asian Cup.
With those three teams also having secured their tickets for this year’s world youth soccer championship, the U-20 Mini Tournament could provide Indonesia with a glimpse of the strength of participating teams in the U-20 World Cup finals Indonesia hosts from 20 May to 11 June. With one win and two defeats in the tournament, Indonesia evidently needs to work harder to improve its game.
Winning all three matches, Guatemala, which also defeated Fiji 3-1, emerged the tournament’s winner.
Guatemala coach Rafael Loredo Silva offered his compliment to Indonesia. “Indonesia played well and applied a highly pressing game after we lost one player. I have to say, it was the toughest match we had gone through in this tournament,” he said.
Indonesia was only able to win over Fiji in the opening match, a deserved result given Fiji’s inferiority in terms of team cohesiveness and individual quality compared to Indonesia.
This article was translated by Musthofid.
Editor:
SYAHNAN RANGKUTI
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