How Far Can the "Young Garuda Pertiwi" Fly in Southeast Asia?

The competition in age-group football tournaments, especially for the youngest categories such as U-16, remains a mystery for the participating teams. However, in tournaments like the ASEAN U-16 Girls Championship or the ASEAN U-16 Girls Championship 2025, the quality and position of the young Indonesian team in the Southeast Asian arena can be assessed. How far can "Garuda Pertiwi Muda" soar?

Blind to the strength of opponents and unable to map out the competition. This can be concluded from the views of the coaches of the teams participating in Group A of the ASEAN U-16 Women's Championship 2025 when asked about the potential for competition. Timo Scheunemann (Indonesia coach), Emral Abus (Timor Leste), and Leila Chua Pak Ling (Malaysia) agreed that it is difficult to analyze the competition in age-group tournaments, especially U-16.

That perspective is understandable considering that the ASEAN U-16 Women's Championship, formerly known as the AFF U-16 Women's Championship, has only recently been held again after six years. After its inaugural event in 2009, the tournament reemerged in 2017 and was held annually until its last edition in 2019.

"Moreover, it is still U-16, where every change in players makes the strength map unreadable. The U-20 competition is similar, but it is already more discernible," said Timo at a press conference alongside Emral Abus and Leila Chua ahead of the championship, Tuesday (19/8/2025).

Indonesia began the tournament by facing Timor Leste at Manahan Stadium, Surakarta, on Wednesday (20/8/2025) at 19:30 WIB. Four days later, Indonesia will compete against Malaysia at the same venue.

Nine participating teams are divided into three groups. Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia are in Group B, while Thailand, Singapore, and Australia are in Group C. They will compete in a round-robin format, with all teams facing each other to determine the group winner and the best runner-up to advance to the semifinals.

According to Timo, with this still ambiguous power map, the competition could become more dynamic. They cannot gauge the opponent's capabilities by comparing them through the quality of the senior team. As a result, the mentality of the players will play a crucial role during the matches.

To that end, Timor stated, players must not underestimate opponents who, at the senior level, are favored teams. They should also not feel inferior when facing opponents whose senior teams have an impressive track record.

"So if asked about the chances, and who is the most to be wary of, it's all the same, 50-50. All matches, the chances are 50-50," said Timo, who also admitted that he did not set any specific targets in the tournament other than preparing the team for a higher goal, namely the senior national team.

For Indonesia, this is the fourth participation out of five editions. Indonesia was absent only in the 2019 edition. In all of its participations, "Garuda Pertiwi Muda" has always been eliminated in the group stage. Meanwhile, Thailand is the most successful team with three championships.

However, if we adopt the perspective of Timo and two other coaches, the track record of all teams in the same event in previous editions means nothing. This means that the 2025 ASEAN U-16 Women's Championship is a moment for the participants, particularly the young Indonesian team, to test and measure the quality of their youth team against other Southeast Asian teams.

Moreover, this team was formed systematically through various stages, driven by the presence of a tournament. All players called for the first selection, for instance, are footballers competing in the Hydroplus Piala Pertiwi U-14 and U-16 tournaments in 2025, which take place from April to July.

Before the U-14 and U-16 Pertiwi Cup, players were "selected" to join their respective teams or clubs competing at the regional level. This tournament is divided into two age groups and is held in Banten, Jakarta, West Java (Bandung and Cirebon), Central Java (Semarang, Solo, and Kudus), East Java (Surabaya and Malang), Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara and Bali, Sulawesi, North Sumatra, South Sumatra, and Papua.

Thus, the formed team is the best squad with layered filters. The squad is also "diverse," especially in terms of regional origins. This is because the players come from various places, not just concentrated in Java.

"There is no target, but we certainly put pressure on ourselves; there is no need to set a target. Which coach wants to lose, and which player wants to lose, especially since they have reached this position through several stages," said Timo.

The fact that the ASEAN U-16 Women's Championship 2025 will serve as a parameter for the quality of the teams has also sparked enthusiasm in the coach of Timor Leste, Emril Abus. The Indonesian coach, who also manages the Timor Leste women's team at all levels, is already aware of the competition at the senior level. However, competing at the youngest age group level renders all that knowledge inapplicable.

"In the U-16 category, we do not have any materials (opponent analysis). Therefore, the most important thing is that we focus on ourselves, how we play, attack, transition, and so on. When facing an opponent, we will then adapt to them," said Emral.

"We have a high fighting spirit and great talent, such as the children from Papua and NTT in Indonesia. This is the kind of talent that we are developing to become quality players," said the former coach of PSBS Biak.

At the ASEAN U-16 Women's Championship, "Garuda Pertiwi Muda" will spread its wings. Most of the players will mark their debut in the international tournament. In this event, we will also find out how far they can soar in the Southeast Asian arena.