The "Young Garuda" Team is Stung by India's Lightning Transition

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The Indonesian U-23 football team faced a bitter defeat in a friendly match against India at the Madya Stadium, Jakarta, on Friday (10/10/2025). The team, which is still undergoing player selection, lost 1-2.

Indonesian players struggled to cope with the speed of the Indian wingers. In addition, India's rapid transitions were also key to their victory.

Two winning goals for India were scored by striker Suhail Ahmad Bhat. Meanwhile, Indonesia's response goal was scored by defender Donni Tri Pamungkas, who was played as a forward this time.

From the start of the match, the "Garuda Muda" players struggled to keep up with the speed of India's two wingers, Muhammed Suhail and Thingujam Korou Singh. Most of India's attacks began from transitional play, relying on the agility of these two wingers in their maneuvers.

Alfarezzi Buffon, who was guarding the right side of the Indonesian defense, was consistently slow to close down Suhail's movements. Besides being fast, India also frequently switched up its attack (switch play), which exposed the Indonesian defense. India's second goal came from an attack from the left flank that was quickly switched to the right.

India is also very disciplined in maintaining their defense. The defensive midfielder and their four defenders are always quick to retreat when possession is lost. This results in almost no empty spaces in India's defense that can be exploited by the "Garuda Muda" players.

Knowing that Indonesia also has fast wingers, India, using a back four, used zonal marking. The goal was to keep up with Indonesian winger Victor Dethan's coming-from-behind approach.

The plan was quite successful in dampening Victor's movements so that the ball supply to striker Hokky Caraka could be relatively suppressed.

To prevent India from developing their play freely, the Indonesian players attempted several pressing attempts as their opponents built attacks from behind. Unfortunately, Hokky often employed these attempts without Victor and Donny countering them. As a result, Indonesia's pressing was easily bypassed and became the initial source of India's attacks.

Attention should be directed towards Indonesia's defense, which is extremely vulnerable when facing India's rapid transitions. This situation may also arise due to the two defensive midfielders of Indonesia, Toni Firmansyah and Raehan Alief, being late in providing support to the four defenders.

As the first half was coming to an end, India, slightly fatigued from playing at a fast pace since the beginning, began to lose control of the game. Indonesia took advantage of this situation to apply pressure. As a result, Donny reduced Indonesia's deficit with a curling shot from outside the penalty area.

Donny's goal was created from a combination scheme of a short pass in the final third area of India. Such a process is relatively rare at the beginning of the match. The Indian defenders seemed taken by surprise that Donny would take a long-range shot that ultimately resulted in a goal.

Before the match began, Indonesia's coach Indra Sjafri emphasized that victory was not the main objective of his team. This friendly match is intended to assess the quality of players who are currently in the training camp ahead of competing in the SEA Games Thailand 2025.

To maximize his chances, Indra stated he would utilize the 12 substitutions allowed. In the second half, Indra made six substitutions.

The position replaced by Indra includes the wing back occupied by Buffon and Frengky Missa. Raka Cahyana Rizky came in to replace Buffon. Mikael Tata was entrusted to take over Missa's role as left back.

Changes were also made up front. Jens Raven replaced Hokky. The midfield was also strengthened by the introduction of Arkhan Fikri.

The introduction of new players brought Indonesia's attack to life. However, India still managed to thwart this effort, which responded by thickening its defense and implementing an overload strategy on the left flank, where Indonesia often initiates attacks.

Not only Indonesia, but the substantial player substitution quota was also utilized by India. India's coach, Naushad Mossa, made five player substitutions. Two Indian wingers, Suhail and Thingujam, who often posed a threat to Indonesia's defense, were also substituted. They were replaced by Huidrom Thoi and Parthib Sundar.

The exit of Suhail and Thingujam weakened India's attacking strength as Huidrom and Parthib do not possess equivalent quality. The maneuvers of Huidrom and Parthib were relatively easy for the Indonesian defense to read. Until the match concluded, India's 2-1 lead remained intact.

This match is the first in a series of trials for Indonesia. In the next match, Indonesia will once again challenge India at the same venue on Monday (13/10/2025) evening.