Jakarta (MidLand) – Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) General President Erick Thohir assessed that the Indonesian national team players showed quality against Tanzania despite a goalless draw in their practice match at Madya Stadium in Jakarta on Sunday.
“In the test match, all our players played and we saw that the quality started to stabilize because the attacks against Tanzania did not slow down in the second half. This is what I want to have a really strong senior national double eleven” , Erick Thohir told the reporter.
Erick didn’t mind the draw the Garuda team got in this match because the players were still unable to adapt to the Indonesian climate after playing for several clubs abroad.
“Today’s match was really a test and if we see that coach Shin Tae-yong rotated almost all the players to get a feel for the game and tests. They might be in a condition where they have to adapt quite well at this time because many of them play abroad,” said the former Inter president.
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Erick likened the draw to a warm-up period, before performing optimally in the actual match, like when the national U23 team headed to the U23 Asian Cup in Qatar.
“We experienced this before the Under-23 Asia Cup. We lost in the trials against the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. But in the actual tournament we managed to beat strong teams like Australia, Jordan and South Korea. This means that there must be something useful and obtained from the result was a draw”, said Erick, who is also the minister of the BUMN.
Marselino and his friends will qualify for the 2026 World Cup by facing Iraq on June 6 and the Philippines on June 11. Erick underlined that the team’s main goal is to win three points in these two matches to secure qualification to the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
“The main objective is to get three points in the last two matches so that we can qualify for the third round with 17 other Asian countries who will compete for tickets to the World Cup. I think the draw against Tanzania is like a another adjustment period for the players to be more united,” Erick said.
Read also: Marselino stresses that he is not burdened by the obligatory victory against Iraq
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Reporter: Fajar Satriyo
Publisher: Irwan Suhirwandi
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