Original title: Why is the Indonesian team in the round of 16 of the Asian Cup like a European team?
Xinhua News Agency reporters Yue Dongxing, Gong Bing, and Ji Jiadong.
The Indonesian men's national football team, which reached the round of 16 of the Asian Cup for the first time in team history, although it lost 0:4 to the Australian team on the 28th and missed the quarterfinals, the game content, physical fitness and confrontation intensity they showed are no longer like a Southeast Asian team in the traditional sense.
Six of Indonesia's starting 11 players in the day's clash with Australia were born in Europe and grew up in the European youth system, which represents the highest level of world football. Their development trajectory is as follows:
Central defender Amat Amat, 31 years old, born in Spain, 1.84 meters tall, has played for Spain's youth teams in various age groups, played for Espanyol and other European clubs, and began to represent Indonesia in 2022.
Central defender Walsh, 28 years old, born in Belgium, 1.85 meters tall, has represented the Netherlands U17, U19 and other teams, and now plays for the Belgian club Mechelen, and will start representing the Indonesian team in 2023.
There are also 25-year-old Shane Patinama, 20-year-old Ivar Jenner, Justin Habner, and Rafael Strujk, who were basically born in Europe, are more than 1.80 meters tall, and have played for European clubs for a long time.
It is not difficult to see that the naturalized players support the central axis of the Indonesian team, covering defenders, midfielders and forwards. These players are tall and make up for the disadvantage of Southeast Asian teams in terms of confrontation and scramble in past matches. The Indonesian Football Association and the South Korean head coach Shin Tae-ryong, who coached in Indonesia a few years ago, have an overall plan for player selection.
In the game on the 28th, although the Indonesian team is 121 places behind the Australian team in the world rankings, the technical statistics of the AFC show that the data of the two teams in terms of ball possession and number of passes are very close.
On the basis of the "Europeanized" central axis, the Indonesian team has added local players with delicate skills, mainly responsible for attacking and defending on the wings. For example, Asvina Bahar, who plays at right-back, is the 24-year-old captain of the team who was born in Indonesia.
Judging from the process, although the Indonesian team is slightly inferior in the confrontation with the physically strong "Kangaroo Army", it has the strength to challenge the strong Asian team, but it is still lacking in the experience of the competition and the run-in of the team. The midfielders of the Indonesian team are all young and have a lot of room for improvement, which is expected to further improve the team's strength.
The players have a lot of faith in me and my coaching philosophy, and the Indonesian Football Association fully supports me in my work, which is one of the reasons for the team's progress. Shen Tailong told reporters after the game.
After leading his team to the Asian Cup in Qatar, the boss said his next goal is to lead his team to the next World Cup finals, and they still need to work hard for that.
*:Xinhua.