The annual pre-season tournament for the 2022/23 Liga 1 Indonesia season is just around the corner, however, defending Liga 1 kings Bali United are setting their eyes for a bigger stage – the 2022 AFC Cup group stages.
As per tradition, league operators PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB) are set to hold the annual pre-season tournament for the upcoming Liga 1 season on June 11th. Usually called either the Piala Presiden or the Piala Menpora, the name for this year’s pre-season tournament is still kept under wraps by PT LIB.
Bali United were drawn in Group C for this year’s pre-season tournament, which was dubbed as the group of death as it contains four out of last season’s top five teams – hosts Persib Bandung, Persebaya Surabaya, Bhayangkara FC, and of course, Bali United themselves.
However, as league champions of the 2019 season, Bali United will also participate in this year’s AFC Cup. The Serdadu Tridatu will host Group G at the Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium, where they will have to contend against Malaysia’s Kedah Darul Aman, Kaya FC-Iloilo of the Philippines, and Visakha FC from Cambodia, with the matches being played from June 24th to 30th.
With the prospect of fixture congestion and conflict on the horizon, both Bali United head coach Stefano Cugurra Teco and the club’s new goalkeeper Muhammad Ridho have made it clear which tournament the Serdadu Tridatu will prioritize.
“We want to focus on the AFC Cup,” said Teco, as quoted from Tribun Bali, “We want to do better than we did last time out and get out of our group.”
Teco stated that he will examine the schedules for both the upcoming pre-season tournament and the AFC Cup, to see which squad should he deploy for which tournament. It is very likely that Teco will test out his best squad in the early matches of the pre-season tournament to ensure that they would be match-fit and ready for the AFC Cup.
As both Kedah and Visakha have played a number of matches in their respective leagues already as well as Kaya having completed the 2022 Copa Paulino Alcantara, all three of Bali United’s AFC Cup opponents are more than ready to tackle the tournament. With that in mind, Teco seeks to have his squad play a few competitive games first before embarking on their Asian adventure.
“We have six new players and two promoted from the U-18 squad. In total, we have eight newcomers and they’ve done well in training. Everyone’s working hard in shaping themselves up for the new season,” said Teco.
Other than former Madura United goalie Ridho, Bali United have brought in a number of experienced players into their ranks – Jajang Mulyana, Ardi Idrus, Hendra Bayauw, Ramdani Lestaluhu, and Novri Setiawan, the last two names having worked alongside Teco at Persija Jakarta in the 2018 campaign.
The Serdadu Tridatu also brought in youngsters Komang Aryantara and Made Tito Wiratama from their U-18 squad, the club clearly seeing them as bright prospects for the future.
When asked by the Bali United social media team about which tournament that Bali United should prioritize in the next few weeks, Ridho echoed Teco’s sentiments on how the club must put all of their eggs in the AFC Cup basket.
“Both tournaments are important but we must prioritize the AFC Cup, so that we could do our very best there,” said Ridho, the goalkeeper clearly enthusiastic about making his continental club competition debut there.
Bali United are clearly refusing to repeat the mistake that they’ve made in the 2018 AFC Cup group stages. There, then-head coach Widodo Cahyono Putro prioritized the 2018 Piala Presiden over that year’s continental campaign, resulting in him fielding a second-string team against Myanmar’s Yangon United in the Serdadu Tridatu‘s first group stage game.
Being touted as the favorites – especially considering that they’re playing at the Dipta – Widodo’s decision to field the reserves resulted in Bali United suffering a humiliating 3-1 defeat at the hands of Yangon United, which set the tone for a disastrous AFC Cup campaign for the Serdadu Tridatu.