Indonesian media express disappointment as their national team faces the risk of early elimination from the SEA Games.
"SEA Games: Indonesian U22 team replicates bitter history from 30 years ago," CNN Indonesia headlined, referring to their 0-1 defeat against the Philippines U22 team in the second match of Group C of the men's football tournament at the 33rd SEA Games, held at the 700th Anniversary Stadium (Chiangmai) on the evening of December 8th.
As the defending champions, the Indonesian U22 team was expected to travel to Thailand to defend their title. However, a major shock occurred for the team from the "land of a thousand islands" when they suffered a narrow 0-1 defeat against the Philippines U22 team.
This result means that U22 Indonesia must win against U22 Myanmar in the final match and hope for the results of the other two groups to qualify for the semi-finals as the best-performing second-placed team.
However, this is considered unlikely as the Vietnam U22 team is currently the best-performing second-placed team in the group with 3 points thanks to their victory against Laos U22 in the opening match.
"The opening match defeat mirrored Indonesia's bitter and disappointing history at the 1995 SEA Games, also held in Thailand. That opening loss prevented Indonesia from reaching the semi-finals, where they also lost to Vietnam in the final group stage match."
Will the failure of 30 years ago be repeated? The answer will come on December 11th when the match between Vietnam U22 and Malaysia U22 will have a result," CNN Indonesia emphasized in its article.
"After losing to the Philippines, the Indonesian U22 team immediately shifted their focus to the match against Myanmar," the Bola newspaper also headlined, referring to the team's highly disappointing defeat.
"As the reigning champions, this result naturally attracted considerable attention from the Indonesian public. The players and coaching staff immediately took action to reassess their performance in order to regain the team's best form."
"The situation in the group has also become more complicated as Indonesia no longer has control over its own destiny, as it must depend on the match between Vietnam U22 and Malaysia U22 in the other group," commented Bola newspaper.
The Indonesian newspaper also quoted coach Indra Sjafri's statement after the defeat: "Perhaps I should focus more on winning the match against Myanmar, because winning is very important. In the current situation, we no longer have control over our own destiny as we have to wait for the result of the match between Vietnam and Malaysia."
But the important thing right now is how we prepare to win the second match against Myanmar."
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/u22-indonesia-1-1-u22-myanmar-hiep-2-indonesia-nguy-co-cao-bi-loai-20251212175451168.htm
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