U.17 Indonesia practices penalty kicks, worried about facing Uzbekistan, too scary

Coach Nova Arianto of the Indonesian U.17 team had his players practice penalty kicks before the quarter-final match of the U.17 Asian Cup against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea at 9:00 p.m. on April 14. Meanwhile, Japan U.17 was eliminated due to 11m kicks.

U.17 Indonesia determined to make it happen

The only remaining representative of Southeast Asia at the 2025 AFC U-17 Championship, the Indonesia U-17 team, is preparing very carefully for the possibility of having to settle the score with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on penalties to determine the winner. In the knockout round of the AFC U-17 Championship, if the two teams are tied after 90 minutes of regulation time, a penalty shootout will be held, with no extra time.

After U.17 Vietnam (red shirt) and the Thai team were eliminated, only U.17 Indonesia is the representative of Southeast Asia in the quarter-finals of the 2025 U.17 Asian Cup.

Photo: VFF

"The U.17 team of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a very strong opponent. They have won the U.17 Asian Championship twice (2010 and 2014), and were runners-up twice in 2004 and 2006. However, the U.17 Indonesia team will not be afraid of any opponent. We enter the match with the highest determination and are prepared for all possible situations that may occur during the match, including the possibility of having to take penalty kicks. We have been practicing all these days," said coach Nova Arianto of the U.17 Indonesia team.

Coach Nova Arianto's caution was not unnecessary, because the number 1 candidate for the 2025 U.17 Asian Championship, U.17 Japan, experienced this situation and was unfortunately eliminated.

Japan U.17 lost to Saudi Arabia 2-3 in a penalty shootout (2-2 draw in regulation time) on April 13.

In the group stage, the U.17 Japan team lost the final match to the Australian team with a score of 2-3, but was lucky to win the top spot after the U.17 Vietnam team missed the chance to qualify in the last minute because the U.17 UAE team equalized 1-1 in the 87th minute.

With little time to prepare, Japan U17 entered the quarter-final match against Saudi Arabia in an unimpressive form. They led 1-0 in the 9th minute thanks to a penalty from Seguchi. But then fell behind 2-1 (Saeed and Dahal scored for the Saudi team) in the first half.

It was not until the 72nd minute that Asada managed to equalize the score 2-2, bringing the match to a penalty shootout. Here, 3 Japanese players missed their shots, causing the home team to lose to U.17 Saudi Arabia. In the semi-finals, U.17 Saudi Arabia will face either Tajikistan or South Korea, with the final quarter-final match taking place at 0:15 on April 15.

Meanwhile, if the U.17 Indonesia team advances, they will meet U.17 Uzbekistan in the semi-finals, the opponent that eliminated the U.17 UAE team with a 3-1 victory in the quarter-final match that took place in the early morning of April 14 (Vietnam time).

According to the Indonesian press: "The U.17 Uzbekistan team is an extremely formidable opponent. They demonstrated their superior strength when they defeated the UAE team with a big score difference (leading 3-0 after the first half, before letting the opponent score an honorary goal in the second half). If the U.17 Indonesia team continues and meets this opponent in the semi-finals of the U.17 Asian Cup, this will be a huge challenge for coach Nova Arianto and his team."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u17-indonesia-luyen-sut-phat-den-lo-phai-doi-dau-voi-uzbekistan-qua-dang-so-185250414094323489.htm