Meeting U23 Thailand is a 'survival' battle for U23 Indonesia

Indonesian football legend calls the match with U23 Thailand a life and death battle for U23 Indonesia.

U23 Indonesia (red shirt) has yet to concede a goal at U23 Southeast Asia 2025 - Photo: ANH KHOA

U23 Indonesia will face U23 Thailand in the semi-finals of the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 Championship at 8:00 p.m. on July 25 at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

Speaking before the match, legend Aji Santoso said: "The upcoming match with Thailand is definitely a life-and-death battle to decide whether we can reach the final or not."

This is the third time Indonesia and Thailand have met at the Southeast Asian U23 Championship. In the previous two confrontations in 2019 and 2023, the "island country" team won both times.

Specifically, in 2019, Indonesia under the leadership of coach Indra Sjafri defeated Thailand 2-1 in the final. In 2023, coach Shin Tae Yong led the team to continue to defeat the opponent with a score of 3-1 in the semi-finals.

However, Aji Santoso - who was the head coach of the Indonesian U23 team - warned that Thailand are a very strong team in this year's tournament. They were champions of the tournament for the first time in 2005, and are unbeaten in Group C with 1 win and 1 draw.

Coach Thawatchai Damrong-Ongtrakul's team also had an impressive record, scoring 4 goals and conceding none, similar to Indonesia.

With those statistics, Aji Santoso reminded U23 Indonesia to be extremely vigilant, especially when the home team's performance is showing signs of decline after the 0-0 draw with Malaysia.

"Thailand is a pretty strong team in this tournament. In the last match against Malaysia, Indonesia drew 0-0. Although we have advanced, in terms of playing style, we have not shown a good performance," said Mr. Aji Santoso.

This semi-final match is also considered the first big test for the new coach of U23 Indonesia, Gerald Vanenburg.

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THANH DINH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/gap-u23-thai-lan-la-tran-chien-song-con-cua-u23-indonesia-2025072408315157.htm