Dewa United's Preliminary Round Winners Face Homework to Advance to the Asian Challenge League Knockout Stage

TANGERANG, KOMPAS — Dewa United has met their initial target this season, which is to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2025-2026 Asian Challenge League. As the champions of Group E, the "Banten Warriors" will face Svay Rieng, a team from Cambodia, in the eastern zone quarter-finals. However, the performance of the squad coached by Jan Olde Riekerink requires improvement in order to contend for the championship title in the Asian club competition.

Dewa secured top spot in Group E after defeating Shan United, representatives from Myanmar, 2-1 on Saturday night (November 1, 2025) at the Indomilk Arena Stadium in Tangerang, Banten. Once again, Egy Maulana Vikri showed his magic for Dewa on the continental stage.

He opened Dewa's advantage with a precise shot when the game entered the 10th minute. About 10 minutes later, Egy provided a well-placed pass that was finished by Hugo "Jaja" Gomes with a left-footed shot from outside the penalty area to double Dewa's lead.

Undoubtedly, Egy consistently scored goals in three matches for Dewa in Group E of the 2025-2026 Asia Challenge League. In total, the player wearing the number 10 jersey netted three goals and provided three assists in Dewa's first three matches at the continental level.

Midfielder Alexis Messidoro extended Dewa's lead with a penalty execution in the 58th minute. The spot kick was awarded by the Lebanese referee, Al Alachkar, after Dewa's substitute forward, Rafael Struick, was brought down by the central defender, Shan Zwe Khant Min. Similar to Egy, Messidoro, the Argentine midfielder, has also scored three goals in the Asian Challenge League.

Dewa secured three points with a strike from Struick in the 62nd minute. It was Struick's first goal in a Dewa uniform.

Struick had to wait exactly one year to score again at the club level. The last time he registered his name on the scoreboard was when he scored for Brisbane Roar in the Australian League match against Sydney FC on November 1, 2024.

Despite scoring nine goals in three qualifying matches, Dewa's offensive performance hasn't been clinical enough. They managed 71 shots in three Group E matches.

This means that the conversion rate of goals from the total shots taken by the Dewa players is only 13 percent. On average, they need to produce eight shots to shake the opponent's net.

"We should have been able to create more goals, especially in the first half. We showed our style of play," said Dewa Jan Olde Riekerink, the coach, after the match.

Many wasted opportunities were possessed by winger Stefano Lilipaly. In the first eight minutes of the match, Lilipaly had three great chances inside Shan's penalty area. Lilipaly was not calm enough, causing his shot to soar into the air and hit the opposing defender.

In addition to the attacking line that still often misses opportunities, Dewa's defense is also still easily punished by counterattacks from the opponents. Attacking midfielder Shan, Matheus Souza Silva, scored a goal with a tap-in at the 42nd minute.

Silva took advantage of the rebound from a shot by his teammate, Nanda Kyaw. In that goal situation, the Dewa defenders merely watched the actions of goalkeeper Sonny Stevens, who had already made a save while diving. As a result, the second ball was quickly seized by the Shan player.

Coach Shan Hiroki Ono stated that his team aimed to play more offensively in the second half. "The team tried to respond better after halftime. The performance improved, but we failed to score additional goals," said Ono.

In the first match against Phnom Penh Crown, Dewa conceded a goal from a corner kick situation. Banten Warriors only managed to record one clean sheet in the Asia Challenge League. The record of not conceding against Tainan City also marked Dewa's first clean sheet in the 2025-2026 competition campaign.

The defensive performance, which has not yet reached an ideal level, is also influenced by the limited stock of center-backs. Nick Kuipers is the only defender who has consistently been included in the lineup of the defensive quartet in three matches of the Asian Challenge League.

Kuipers was accompanied by different duos in the match at the Asian Challenge League. Cassio Scheid partnered with Kuipers against Crown. With Akiba Scheid injured, Brian Fatari became Kuipers' partner. In the last game, it was Edo Febriansyah's turn to accompany the Dutch defender.

Dewa topped Group E thanks to a superior goal difference over Crown, with both teams collecting seven points from three matches. Dewa accumulated a goal difference of seven, while Crown recorded a goal difference of three.

In the quarterfinals, Dewa will face Manila Digger, the representative from the Philippines. Manila is in second place in Group D due to a goal difference disadvantage against the Cambodian representative, Svay Rieng. The final match of Group D, which brought the two teams together at the National Stadium Techo Morodok in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, ended in a 2-2 draw.

The two teams also concluded the group competition with a total of seven points. Svay, the finalist of the Asian Challenge League last season, became the group champion with a goal difference of +6, while the other team had a goal difference of +4.

The quarterfinals will be played in a home-and-away format. The knockout stage matches are scheduled for March 2026.

"We will fight to achieve the highest achievement in this competition," said Riekerink.