'Revenge' for defeat against Vietnam, U23 Indonesia summons a series of naturalized players

Hubner is only 21 years old so he is eligible to participate in the U23 team tournaments this year.

In a recent statement, President Erick Thohir confirmed plans to call up more young naturalized players who participated in the 2024 AFC U23 Championship and are still old enough to participate in the campaign next year. They are Rafael Struick, Justin Hubner, Ivar Jenner, Tim Geypens...

He told Detik Sport: “In fact, Rafael (Struick) can play in the Southeast Asian U23 tournament. Marselino (Ferdinan) too. They are all qualified. It is not excluded that we will test whether these players are capable or not, and then put them in the strongest squad."

With the above statement, Mr. Thohir is leaning towards eliminating some positions that did not perform well in the U23 Southeast Asia tournament. Instead, he called on the naturalized stars with outstanding abilities. It is expected that Indonesia can strengthen up to 7 players in this category when playing the U23 Asia qualifiers in September.

profil-ivar-jenner-gelandang-andalan-timnas-indonesia-di-piala-asia-u23-768x432.jpg — Jenner can help make Indonesia's midfield more flexible

Sharing this view is the famous Indonesian football commentator, Muhammad Kusnaeni. “The U23 Southeast Asian tournament has brought many valuable lessons to our young team. Although they have been quite successful in reaching the final, there are still many unstable aspects in their playing style and the quality of the players is not consistent. That brings many concerns when we will play the U23 Asian qualifiers in 1 month.

To qualify, we can use Marselino Ferdinan or Ivar Jenner to strengthen the midfield. In defense, we can use Justin Hubner, while in attack, Ramadhan Sananta, Struick and perhaps Mauro Zijlstra will be good options. I believe that coach Vanerburg must add these players if he wants to perform well in the U23 qualifiers."