Facing North Korea, Young Garuda Must Not Be Anticlimax in U-17 Asian Cup

JEDDAH, SUNDAY — The Indonesian U-17 team should have forgotten their impressive performance in the preliminary round of the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup. North Korea, their opponent in the quarter-final phase, Monday (14/4/2025) at 21.00 WIB, at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, cannot be underestimated.

North Korea is an anomaly in the development of modern football. While countries compete to show off their youth development programs and results, North Korea remains silent.

No one knows how South Korea's neighbors will develop their football, nor the fate of their professional competition.

However, North Korea's youth teams have proven that they are not mediocre teams in the Asian competition map. North Korea U-23 reached the quarter-finals of the 2022 Asian Games. Then, their junior women's team won the 2024 U-17 Women's World Cup and the 2024 U-20 Women's World Cup.

No wonder, North Korea's ability to qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup and the 2025 U-17 World Cup increasingly legitimizes the success of North Korea's hidden program for football. With one win and two draws from the group phase, North Korea has the opportunity to become Indonesia's biggest stumbling block to winning the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup.

Indonesia U-17 coach Nova Arianto said North Korea is a strong team. The Garuda Muda squad, he added, must perform flawlessly to win the match to advance to the semifinals.

"We analyzed the strength of the opponents in the quarter-finals. We have made maximum preparations. Hopefully the players can continue their best performance," said Nova, Sunday (13/4/2025).

In addition to pursuing the best achievements in participating in the U-17 Asian Cup, Nova said that the journey in the 2025 Saudi Arabian knockout phase is the best way for his team to prepare for the 2025 U-17 World Cup in Qatar, next November.

Because, in the knockout round of the U-17 Asian Cup, Evandra Florasta and friends will face Asian ambassadors in the world tournament. In addition, the pressure of the match presented on the Asian stage cannot be matched by the exhibition matches that will be played in preparation for appearing in Qatar.

"We have faced opponents with various game characters in the qualifying round. It is very important for the players to gain experience and measure how far we can compete in the Asian Cup (U-17) and the World Cup (U-17)," said Nova.

If they can make it to the semifinals, Garuda Muda will match their achievement at the 1990 U-17 Asian Cup. Although they have the opportunity to become the second Indonesian team to appear in the final four, Nova's squad is certainly better than the 1990 team.

This is reflected in the performance and quantity of participants. In the 1990 edition, Indonesia qualified as the second-ranked group with only two draws. The tournament participants at that time were only eight teams, so the two best teams from each group immediately appeared in the semifinals.

In Saudi Arabia 2025, Nova led Garuda Muda to three wins in the group stage. As a result, if Zahaby Gholy and his colleagues can break through to the top four, they certainly deserve to be considered the best Indonesian team in the U-17 Asian Cup.

Indonesia U-17 team manager Ahmed Zaki Iskandar confirmed Garuda Muda's big ambition. Their mission is not stopping at winning a ticket to the 2025 U-17 World Cup, but also hunting for the U-17 Asian Cup trophy.

If they are able to become champions, Nova and his team deserve to enter the golden ink of Indonesian football. They will record themselves as the first Indonesian team to achieve high achievements in the official Asian tournament.

"After achieving the target of qualifying for the U-17 World Cup, the main focus of the entire team is to complete the Asian Cup to become Asian champions," said Zaki.

North Korea is certainly not an easy opponent for Indonesia. After appearing to always win in four qualifying round matches, North Korea collected five points in the main round group phase.

The unbeaten record shows that O Thae-song's team has great quality. On the other hand, North Korea is the team that has most consistently reached the semifinals of the U-17 Asian Cup since the turn of the millennium.

They have made it to the semi-finals five times, winning the title twice. That feat of reaching the semi-finals five times is matched only by Japan.

"The players are very happy to have secured qualification for the U-17 World Cup. We have been training and preparing for a long time to experience this moment," Thae-song said.

North Korea will be participating in the U-17 World Cup for the sixth time since the 2004 edition. Their best achievement was in the 2005 Peru edition when they reached the quarter-finals.

Furthermore, Thae Song assessed that his team still had to fix the defense line to face Indonesia. North Korea conceded three goals in the Group D match which was created when they were held to a draw by Iran (1-1) and Oman (2-2).

"We have to strengthen that area (defense) in the next match. We are also trying to improve our strengths and reduce our weaknesses to perform better in the World Cup," Thae-song said.

The winner of the Indonesia vs North Korea duel will face the winner between Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates. The Uzbekistan vs UAE duel will be held at the King Fahd Sports City Stadium, Taif, Monday at 00.15 WIB.

The other semi-final match will see the winner of Japan versus Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan versus South Korea.