“Young Garuda” Hopes Collapse Before North Korea

JEDDAH, MONDAY — The performance of Indonesia's U-17 team faced an anticlimax in the quarterfinals of the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup against North Korea on Monday evening (14/3/2025) at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A 0-6 defeat shattered the dream of "Garuda Muda" to carve out new history on the Asian stage.

North Korea delivered a nightmare to Indonesia just seven minutes into the match. Center-back Choe Song-hun opened the scoring for his team. That goal shattered Indonesia's fighting spirit, which had secured three victories in the group stage.

The central midfielder and captain of North Korea, Kim Yu-jin, extended his team's lead in the 19th minute. After halftime, Ri Kyon-bong (48’), Kim Tae-guk (60’), Ri Kang-rim (61’), and Pak Ju-won (77’) took turns defeating Indonesia's goal, guarded by Dafa Al Gasemi.

With Indonesia's elimination in the quarterfinals, the journey mirrors that of the 2018 AFC U-17 Championship in Malaysia. At that time, Indonesia failed to reach the semifinals after being defeated by Australia.

Nova Arianto's protégés failed to match Indonesia's best achievement in the 1990 United Arab Emirates edition. Indonesia once advanced to the semifinals and even competed for third place 35 years ago.

Even so, the defeat against North Korea can also serve as the best lesson for Indonesia before competing in the 2025 U-17 World Cup in November, which will take place in Qatar. The mental resilience and physical duel superiority demonstrated by North Korean players have never been encountered by Indonesia in the group stage matches.

Moreover, the Garuda Muda squad also failed to overcome the mental block caused by conceding an early goal to North Korea in the seventh minute of the first half and the third minute of the second half. Indonesian players were unable to break free from the pressure, resulting in only four shots, with just one on target.

North Korea's six-goal conceding has undone Indonesia's impressive defensive performance. In fact, Garuda Muda played three qualifying games and three group stage matches and only conceded one goal via penalty when facing Yemen.

"We must appreciate the hard work of all coaches, players, and officials for the 2025 U-17 Asian Cup. We will prepare the team better so that they can compete in the 2025 U-17 World Cup Qatar, next November," said PSSI General Chairman Erick Thohir in a media statement.

If Indonesia has to pack their bags from Saudi Arabia 2025, North Korea will continue their adventure to the semifinals. They will compete for a ticket to the final with Uzbekistan.

Indonesia performed poorly in implementing the game plan, both in defense and attack, at the beginning of the match. Indonesia's low defense line had been anticipated by North Korea.

By letting the North Korean players control the ball more comfortably made things difficult for Garuda Muda. Especially after North Korea was able to score a goal through the first corner kick opportunity in the seventh minute.

Instead of changing their game plan to be more offensive, the team continued to play defensively. A record of only 34 percent possession and one shot produced by Mierza Fijatullah in the 13th minute proved the disparity in quality between the two teams.

On the other hand, North Korea appeared to attack by producing 66 percent possession of the ball. In addition, North Korea was able to create nine shots. North Korea's ease in controlling the ball was inseparable from Indonesia's style of implementing a low defensive line, so that they only put pressure when the ball had entered the final third of their own defense.

North Korean players were also very aggressive in winning the second ball in Indonesia's defense zone. The loss of the second ball duel initiated the next four goals scored by North Korea.

In the second goal, the Indonesian defender trio, namely Mathew Baker, Putu Panji, and Muhamad Al Gazani, lost in a duel for a loose ball. This condition made it easy for North Korea's right winger, Kim Tae-guk, to steal the ball to provide an assist to midfielder and team captain, Kim Yu-jin.

Early in the second half, North Korean center forward Pak Kwang-song was able to restore his team's possession in the Indonesian penalty box. Pak provided the assist for Ri Kyong-bong's goal.

Kim Tae-guk had scored a goal through a penalty, then the Indonesian defender's negligence in anticipating the duel for the ball caused North Korea's fifth and sixth goals.

"In addition to the win, the result of not conceding a single goal against Indonesia is a great achievement. This is a collective effort between the players and the 23 players," Kim Yun-jin told AFC Media.

Failure to duel for the ball also allowed North Korea to score the fifth goal. The Garuda Muda defender also failed to anticipate North Korea's corner kick which was the scheme for North Korea's sixth goal.

In addition to being weak in the second ball duel, Indonesian players also appeared too soft to guard North Korean players who have strong physiques. This was shown by the quantity of nine tackles created by Indonesian players in the quarter-final match.

The number of tackles dropped drastically compared to the three preliminary round matches. In the three group phase games, Garuda Muda produced an average of 20 tackles per game with an accuracy rate of 74 percent. Meanwhile, in the game against North Korea, Indonesia's tackle accuracy was only 67 percent.