Indonesia's South Korean coach Shin Tae-yong watches the Qatar 2023 AFC Asian Cup Group D football match between Vietnam and Indonesia at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha on January 19, 2024. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Indonesia have a realistic chance of creating history by reaching the knockout stage of the AFC Asian Cup for the first time but head coach Shin Tae-yong is adamant that his team will take their match against Japan today as they would any other tie.
Indonesia’s 1-0 win over Vietnam on Matchday Two left them well placed to advance from Group D, with qualification even possible ahead of the game against Japan depending on results elsewhere. “Obviously Japan are the number one team,” said Shin. “Difficult match for us but we want to perform and I want to show that Indonesian football is developing.
“We have a lot of scenarios to get into the Round of 16. Even if the result comes before our match, of course we’ll be very happy but I’m not thinking about that now. We will focus on the game and how we will approach it.”
“The Iraqi team and the Indonesian team have a lot of differences. I’m going to approach the match against Japan with a different method (to what Iraq did).”
The Matchday Two defeat to Iraq hasn’t derailed Japan from targeting a fifth AFC Asian Cup title with head coach Hajime Moriyasu saying his players have refocused.
“We may have lost the last match but my players are fully focused and prepared to play Indonesia tomorrow,” said Moriyasu. “We’re in this together and we’ll try to go for victory.”
“I tried to listen to my players’ opinions and staff. I’m not someone who tries to control everything. I try to synchronise everyone’s thoughts. However, when we have to make the decisions, the final decision is with me with consideration given to the opinions of everyone
“After the training today, we will check on the players’ condition then we will make the decision on the starting line-up. We have 26 players and we have to take into consideration that we have a lot of matches to play in this competition and that will help decide too.”
Group D - Japan vs Indonesia
Impressive record: Japan may be meeting Indonesia in the AFC Asian Cup for the first time but they will count on their impeccable record of not having lost to new opponents in nine previous meetings ((W7 D2) to take the three points.
Good run: Indonesia have found the back of the net in each of their last two AFC Asian Cup matches; a goal against Japan will give them their joint longest goal scoring run in competition history.
Uncompromising: Indonesia have conceded 37 fouls in the ongoing edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the highest of all teams in Group D and 10 more than Japan (27); in fact, Vietnam (15) and Iraq (15) put together have conceded seven fouls less than Indonesia.
