Indonesia Beats Vietnam 5-0 in AFF U-16 Cup, PSSI Chief Erick Thohir Reacts
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4 July 2024 00:17 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The chief of Indonesia Football Association or PSSI, Erick Thohir, was upbeat about the Indonesian U-16 national team's 5-0 win over Vietnam on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, which saw Garuda Muda finish third in the AFF U-16 Cup or what is now called the ASEAN U-16 Boys Championship. The match took place at Manahan Solo Stadium.
Although Nova Arianto's side won the match by a landslide in terms of numbers, the result was not easily achieved. Muhammad Zhaby Gholy and his colleagues only managed to score one goal in the first half, in extra time.
Zahaby Gholy opened the scoring in the 45+1 minute. Dafa Zaidan doubled the lead in the 45th minute. Three more goals came in the second half through Daniel Alfrido, who came off the bench after halftime in the 75th minute. Then Gholy scored his second goal in the 78th minute. Daniel then scored the fifth goal. Indonesia's last two goals were assisted by Mierza Firjatullah.
This landslide victory came after Indonesia lost 5-3 to Australia in the semifinals last Monday. On that occasion, Mierza and his colleagues continued to put up stiff resistance despite being reduced to 10 players from the 18th minute after Raihan Apriansyah was shown a second yellow card.
"I am proud that the U-16 national team beat Vietnam with a big score. But we shouldn't let our guard down. Our loss to Australia yesterday should be part of a self-examination for both players and coaches. Besides, we entered this championship as defending champions," said Erick Thohir, as quoted from a release shared by the PSSI media team on Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
The third-place finish in the 2024 AFF U-16 Championship and the big win over Vietnam are the capital for the 2025 AFC U-17 Cup qualifiers to be held in Surabaya on October 19-27, Erick added. The Garuda troops are in Group G with Australia, Kuwait and the Northern Mariana Islands.
"In these matches, we have to prove that our national team is better than today. The fact that we were able to come back from a defeat and score a lot of goals shows that we have a winning mentality," he said.
Rina Widiastuti
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