Indonesia, which had a national team warm-up match at Mardan Stadium in Antalya, Turkiye, lost 0-4 to Libya on the 2nd (Korea time). Although Libya, ranked 120th, is higher than Indonesia, ranked 146th in the FIFA rankings, the four-run defeat is unexpected.
Libya maintained its advantage steadily with the first goal in the 25th minute of the first half and an additional goal in the 13th minute of the second half, and scored two more goals just before the end to complete the grand victory.
As a result, Indonesia had only one draw and two losses in three recent A-matches. It also had a humiliating loss to Iraq by 1-5 in the Asian qualifying round for the North-China World Cup in November last year, and lost by four goals.
Justin Hoobner, a European soccer player who newly joined the Indonesian national team, made his A-match debut as a substitute in the second half. To strengthen his international competitiveness, Shin recruited Justin Hoobner, the Dutch youth team, last year, and first utilized him as the U20 national team. Hoobner will participate in this Asian Cup as well. Hoobner is also a member of the Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League (EPL) along with Hwang Hee-chan. All he has to do is sit on the bench once in Wolverhampton’s first team this season, but he is currently playing as a starting member in U21’s team. Joining the tall center back Hoobner could give Shin a boost in this year’s event.
Indonesia’s pre-tournament friendly matches are not over yet. The team will play one more match against Libya on Saturday, which it invited to Turkiye. There is a possibility that the team will also play a pre-tournament friendly match with Iran.
Indonesia has participated in the Asian Cup for four times in its history. It participated in the Asian Cup for four times in a row from 1997 to 2007, when it was co-hosted by the Asian Cup, and failed to pass the group stage in all of them. Since then, it failed to participate in the preliminary round for the third time due to elimination and disciplinary action, and this time, it made it to the finals for the first time in 16 years.
In the finals, they are in Group D. They will play Iraq on Wednesday, Vietnam on Wednesday, and Japan on Wednesday. Indonesia is the weakest team in the FIFA rankings, and has the least experience in international competitions. To pass the group league, an unexpected event is necessary. A total of 24 teams will participate in the event, and four teams ranking third in each group will be able to advance to the round of 16. If Indonesia reproduces its best performance of one win and two losses in the group league, it has a good chance of survival.
BY: 토토사이트 추천