U23 Indonesia's dream of Asian Cup shattered: Need to learn a lot from U23 Vietnam

After losing to U23 Vietnam in the Southeast Asian tournament, U23 Indonesia's dream of participating in the 2026 AFC U23 Championship was shattered despite having a squad of naturalized players.

Failure and Excuses

Hwang Do-yoon 's goal in the 6th minute silenced the crowd at Gelora Delta Stadium, as U23 Korea defeated U23 Indonesia with a minimal score.

In just one and a half months, from the capital Jakarta to Sidoarjo – one of the most developed cities in the archipelago – U23 Indonesia continuously suffered defeat.

U23 Indonesia lost to U23 Korea. Photo: Kompas

At the end of July, the Gelora Bung Karno “fire pan” was destroyed: U23 Indonesia lost to U23 Vietnam 0-1 in the final match of U23 Southeast Asia.

This time, the young team under the leadership of head coach Gerald Vanenburg lost to U23 Korea and could not complete the goal of participating in the 2026 U23 Asia.

Thus, the goal of winning all important tournaments that Mr. Vanenburg strongly declared has become the pain of Indonesian football.

Indonesia U23 is even among the runners-up with the worst performance. “Garuda Muda” is ranked second from the bottom in the ranking of runners-up of the 2026 AFC U23 Championship qualifiers, with 4 points equal to Kuwait but with a better goal difference.

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“ The early goal was probably a stroke of luck. against U23 Korea. We could have prevented that situation,” the Dutch coach blamed luck.

When mentioning the failure, coach Vanenburg did not mention tactical limitations but blamed the players' poor physical condition.

“Looking back at the match, U23 Indonesia did a few positive things, but unfortunately were not successful in scoring,” said the 1988 EURO champion.

“Again, the problem is related to the physical condition of the players, as they have hardly played in the national championship,” he explained.

When playing against a strong opponent like U23 Korea, a team with great physical strength, we started to lose control of the game after 60 minutes because we could no longer maintain our physical strength .

Naturalization also lost

That was simply Mr. Vanenburg's excuse for not completing his duties.

Looking at the Southeast Asian football scene, many members of U23 Vietnam and U23 Thailand – the top teams in the qualifying round – rarely get to play in the starting lineup in the V-League or Thai League.

U23 Indonesia has suffered consecutive failures in important tournaments. Photo: Kompas

Indonesia U23 is well prepared physically for the last two tournaments. Moreover, “Garuda Muda” has just naturalized center-back Dion Markx from the Netherlands, next to Jens Raven is the 2025 Southeast Asia U23 Top Scorer, or Rafael Struick – a striker who has been familiar with the national team.

Spending money to naturalize players is not enough. Indonesia U23 lacks identity and cannot show pride when drawing 0-0 with Laos U23.

In a football culture that only focuses on naturalization, and when losing, blames players for poor physical condition, development will not be easy.

It can be said that U23 Vietnam – with its record of winning the qualifying round and keeping a clean sheet, earning a ticket to the U23 Asian Cup for the 6th consecutive time – is still an example for Indonesian youth football to learn from.

Watch live and complete Group C - 2026 AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers onFPT Play, at:   http://fptplay.vn

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/u23-indonesia-vo-mong-u23-chau-a-hay-hoc-hoi-u23-viet-nam-2441000.html