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U23 Vietnam has really surpassed U23 Indonesia in every aspect. |
Not all, but most Indonesian fans were excited to see the national team defeat Saudi Arabia and then China and get a ticket to the fourth qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup. But sober people realized that it was not the success of Indonesian football but the success of the strategy of massive naturalization, "Dutchification" of the squad.
Life is not as beautiful as a dream
However, the owner behind this “project” did not realize that, or deliberately did not see that. Since then, the President of the Indonesian Football Federation, Erick Thohir, has had impulsive developments not only with the naturalized team but also with the young players.
In a statement earlier this year, Mr. Thohir stated: "My goal is to bring Indonesian football to the World Cup, even the Olympics. Unfortunately, the Indonesian Olympic team failed once. However, we will do it again at the 2028 Olympics."
There is a saying that “rich and successful people say everything right”. Because of that mindset, his naturalization strategy created the illusion that Indonesian football was developing in the right direction, not only with the national team but also with the youth team. But through the match with Vietnam and what was shown at the 2025 Southeast Asian U23 tournament at home, perhaps Mr. Thohir and Indonesian fans will have to wake up from their dream.
Throughout the tournament, apart from the 8-0 victory over U23 Brunei in the opening match, U23 Indonesia's performance afterwards was lackluster. They only beat the Philippines 1-0 thanks to an own goal by the opposing player.
In the final match of the group stage, U23 Indonesia was held to a 0-0 draw by U23 Malaysia. In the semi-final match against Thailand, the home team only won on penalties. Excluding the match against Brunei, U23 Indonesia only scored 1 goal in the next 4 matches, with 1 goal coming from a gift from the opponent.
Can't rely on just one "project"
Not to praise, but Vietnam's journey to the final was much more convincing when in both the group stage and semi-final matches, coach Kim Sang-sik's team scored 2 goals or more. If Indonesia only relied on the Dutch-born player Jens Raven to score (the other 2 goals were in the win over Brunei), Vietnam had 6 players scoring (equal to Thailand).
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Final match statistics. |
In the final, Indonesia showed a deadlock when Raven was locked down and did not have many opportunities to threaten goalkeeper Tran Trung Kien's goal. Match statistics showed that U23 Indonesia controlled the ball twice as much (68%), passed the ball twice as much (503 and 235) compared to U23 Vietnam, but the number of shots of the two teams was equal, from 7 shots, 2 times towards the goal to 1 time blocked. The professional statistics in the final showed that Indonesia was completely deadlocked.
With that squad and style of play, Indonesia is not sure to qualify for the 2026 AFC U23 Championship in September (in the same qualifying group as South Korea), let alone the Olympic dream that they thought was very close. In fact, at the 2024 AFC U23 Championship, Indonesia reached the semi-finals but they are still just a phenomenon. When the phenomenon is deciphered, will they have any way to maintain success?
Continue to rely on the policy of importing more teammates for Raven? But one day, billionaire Thohir no longer invests in this project, it will not be easy to attract naturalized players. After all, developing a football industry cannot rely on just one project, especially a temporary project like naturalizing players.
Source: https://znews.vn/u23-viet-nam-dua-bong-da-indonesia-tinh-mong-ve-thuc-tai-post1572734.html
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