Bima Sakti, Indonesia’s new head coach, will face his first competitive tournament at the 2018 AFF Cup. The side’s opening game will be away against Singapore, and will take place at the National Stadium in Kallang on Friday night. While he will need to motivate the squad after Luis Milla’s departure, and has an admittedly difficult opening match, he retains good memories after beating Singapore and their coach Fandi Ahmad at the 1997 SEA Games, while both of them were still active as a players.
Indonesia
Strengths: Former coach Luis Milla has been building the team since 2017 SEA Games and 2018 Asian Games, blooding in a group of young players who showed their quality during both of those competitions. Milla set a high standard for this team, and the combination between long passing and short passing fits well with the character of Indonesia’s players, especially for the wingers who have good pace and acceleration.
Weaknesses: As I mentioned before, the away match will be the toughest one because the transition between Luis Milla and Bima Sakti happened quickly. Bima is still using his predecessor’s tactics and gameplay, and will need to handle the pressure from media and Indonesian people who believe that their side can become champions this year. However, the biggest problem is Indonesia hasn’t played away from they home since June 2017.
Player to Watch – Stefano Lilipaly
Stefano Lilipaly will be the heart of Indonesian attack, and potentially the next great Indonesian playmaker after Firman Utina. His journey with The Garuda began at the 2016 AFF Cup when he scored two goals for Indonesia, who finished runners up. The former Dutch U15 and U18 National Team member has good vision, pace and a thunderbolt long-range shot, similar to Wesley Sneijder.
Singapore
Strengths: Playing in front of the 55,000 supporters may be an advantage for The Lions. The side have also won four of six latest games this year, including the latest away friendly against Cambodia, coached by ex-Japan National Team star Keisuke Honda. Singapore also successfully to strengthened their local talents and reduced their reliance on naturalized players. Fandi Ahmad is not afraid to combine young talents like Jacob Mahler (18 years old) and his two sons, Irfan Fandi (21 years old) and Ikhsan Fandi (19 years old) with experienced players such as Baihakki Khaizan, Safuwan Baharudin or Shahril Ishak.
Weaknesses: The main problem for Singapore team heading into 2018 AFF Cup will be about erasing their bad luck. The side have not gotten past the group stage since they were crowned Champions at the 2012 AFF Cup, and the side have not played any competitive football this year due to their absence from the 2018 Asian Games. They also lost five from eight international matches in 2017, most of them being their latest competitive matches.
Player to Watch – Hariss Harun
On the other side, Singapore captain Hariss Harun will be a key main actor in the midfield area. He is a versatile player who can play as a central midfielder and centre-back, who first played for Singapore when he was only 16 years 217 days old. He has collected 86 national caps to date, establishing himself as a good leader on the field in the process. Hariss,who the captain of Malaysian club Johor Darul Ta’zim, will hold the key to stopping Indonesian winger Riko Simanjuntak from Persija, as both of them met in previous AFC Cup campaign.
Steven Danis
Football Tribe Indonesia