Indonesia head coach Shin Tae-yong expressed his unhappiness towards the way his team played on Thursday’s friendly match against Timor-Leste. Despite smashing the Timorese 4-1 at the Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium in Gianyar, Indonesia were disappointing throughout the match’s first half, so much so that Tae-yong slammed his players after the match, saying that they won’t become a Southeast Asian powerhouse if they keep performing like they did in the first 45 minutes.
Despite winning by a comfortable margin, Indonesia were made to work hard for their victory in Gianyar. The Timnas Garuda shockingly went one goal down in the 35th minute thanks to a superb Paulo Gali effort and they almost found themselves trailing by two goals had goalkeeper Syahrul Fadil not saved Mouzinho’s penalty at the end of the first half.
Tae-yong bought on the cavalry during half-time, bringing in the likes of Pratama Arhan, Hanis Saghara Putra, and debutant Ronaldo Kwateh into the fray. And slowly but surely, the trio’s introduction improved Indonesia’s performance.
Ronaldo, son of Persiba Bantul’s Liberian legend Roberto, made his mark in the 65th minute, assisting Ricky Kambuaya’s equalizer. Indonesia were then awarded a penalty of their own in the 73rd minute, which Pratama dispatched easily, before the young PSIS Semarang defender made himself viral on football social media by performing a spectacular long throw that was deflected into the goal by Timor-Leste goalkeeper Georgino Mendoca in the 77th minute.
Another own goal from the Timorese, this time by defender Filomeno in the 80th minute, sealed the win for Indonesia.
Despite the scoreline suggesting a commanding victory, Tae-yong was unhappy with how his team had performed in the match, especially during the first half.
“We won 4-1, but our performance was very very disappointing,” Tae-yong said in his post-match press conference, as quoted from detikSport, “The players and I must evaluate ourselves. I must do better to improve the players’ mentality. With how we played in the first half, we will never become a Southeast Asian powerhouse. We’ll do our best to improve in our next match.”
Tae-yong highlighted how the Indonesian players were unable to break down their Timorese counterparts throughout the first half, who, on paper, were easy opponents for the Timnas Garuda. The Southeast Asian minnows managed to make life tough for Indonesia, even almost dooming them to a shock defeat. Thankfully, the introductions of Ronaldo and Pratama managed to turn the tables around to Indonesia’s advantage, and the win managed to elevate the Timnas Garuda to 161th in the FIFA world ranking.
Indonesia will once again take on Timor-Leste at the Dipta this Sunday.