Indonesia head coach Shin Tae-yong voiced his optimism that his side would continue to develop during the 2023 AFC Asian Cup despite back-to-back friendly defeats to Libya in their training camp at Antalya, Turkey.
The North Africans had thrashed the Timnas Garuda 4-0 in their first meeting on January 2nd, before the Libyans once again got the better of the Indonesians in their second encounter three days later, with the Mediterranean Knights prevailing 2-1.
Despite defeat, Tae-yong has voiced his satisfaction over Indonesia’s overall performance in their second friendly match.
Indonesia went ahead first in the 6th minute through some excellent work by Ivar Jenner who allowed Yakob Sayuri to beat Murad Al Wosehi in the Libyan goal, however the Africans struck back through Mukhtar Al Shremi’s 9th minute effort and Ahmad Ekrawa’s 20th minute winner.
“Other the final score, I’m satisfied by the players’ performance today,” remarked Tae-yong, as quoted from Kompas.
Moreover, Tae-yong said that the Indonesia national team hasn’t fully engaged in tactical training during their training camp in Turkey. Former South Korea national team boss Tae-yong clarified that the team only underwent one day of tactical training just before the match against Libya.
“During our time in Turkey, our focus was on physical training without the opportunity to delve into tactical exercises,” revealed Tae-yong. “We only had a brief window of one day before the match to practice tactics. In preparation for the match against Iraq, I employed our formation, and all players worked diligently.”
Additionally, Tae-yong expressed confidence that the Indonesia national team will make progress despite not securing a victory in the last four matches played outside home soil. The national team suffered a 1-5 defeat when playing against Iraq at the Basra International Stadium in Basra during the second round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Subsequently, the Indonesian national team drew 1-1 against the Philippines at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila in their next World Cup qualifying match. The Timnas Garuda then suffered two defeats against Libya during their matches in Turkey in their Asian Cup training camp. In early 2023, Indonesia were beaten 2-0 by Vietnam in Hanoi during the second leg of the AFF Cup semifinals, which came before a 6-0 thumping of Brunei Darussalam at Bandar Seri Begawan in the first round of the World Cup qualifiers – Indonesia’s only recent away win.
The recent winless run meant that Tae-yong was under immense pressure from both supporters and the federation to perform well in the Asian Cup, with frequent critics Tommy Welly and Akmal Maharli often attacking Tae-yong’s decisions and calling for his resignation or sacking.
“Certainly, I aspire to win every match, but given the current squad limitations, development is inevitable, and improvement is assured in the future,” Tae-yong stated, “To the fans, please exercise patience and refrain from hasty judgments, with hopes that Indonesian football will progress positively moving forward.”