The Indonesian national team coach, Shin Tae-yong, defended his team for being too aggressive in the 2020 AFF Cup. Recently, the Indonesian national team completed the first leg of the 2020 AFF Cup semifinal against Singapore on Wednesday (12/22/2021) night local time. The match which was held at the National Stadium Singapore ended without a winner with the final score 1-1.
Before the match, the Football Association of Singapore described the Indonesian national team’s style of play as heavy metal football. The term was popularized by Liverpool coach Juergen Klopp which refers to the aggressiveness of players when they lose the ball or when they launch a counter-attack.
Judging from statistical data, the Indonesian national team is indeed very aggressive when it loses the ball. This is evidenced by the number of tackles made by the Indonesian players from the group phase to the first leg of the 2020 AFF Cup semifinals.
Quoted from the AFF website, the Indonesian national team has recorded a total of 87 tackles from five AFF Cup 2020 matches since the group phase. The number of tackles for the Indonesian national team is the highest compared to the other nine participating countries of the 2020 AFF Cup.
Throughout the group phase, Garuda’s players also collected nine yellow cards, the most of all other contestants. In the match against Singapore, Shin Tae-yong’s Indonesian national team recorded 18 fouls against the opponent. One of the violations of the Indonesian national team that is now in the spotlight is Pratama Arhan’s attempt to snatch the ball from the Singaporean midfielder, Song Ui-young in the middle of the second half.
Pratama Arhan who lost quickly at that time chose to jump and crash his body towards Song Ui-young. In the replay, Arhan’s two feet can be seen almost hitting Song Ui-young’s face. Luckily for Pratama Arhan because the referee only gave a yellow card even though the offense he had committed was quite harsh.
Several Vietnamese media such as Bongda and Soha considered that Arhan should be given a red card for the violation. After the match against Singapore, Shin Tae-yong was asked about the aggressiveness of the Indonesian national team when they lost the ball.
Shin Tae-yong did not agree with the assumption that the Indonesian national team played too aggressively leading to rudeness. According to Shin Tae-yong, physical contact between players on the field is normal in modern football. Shin Tae-yong admitted that he really asked the Indonesian national team players to be more daring to physically compete with opponents. However, Shin Tae-yong made sure that he never taught Indonesian national team players to play rough to the point of injuring their opponents.
“I don’t think the Indonesian national team is too aggressive as it is said in the media. My first impression when I saw the Indonesian national team players was that they did not physically meet the requirements to play football,” said Shin Tae-yong.
“In the development of football, physical contact is normal. All players must understand that. Until now, the Indonesian national team players are still being trained to be physically stronger. However, I have never taught players to play rough to the point of injuring opponents,” the South Korean coach added.
“Showing physical strength when dueling on the field is something we need to do. I have no problem with that. We have great respect for all players on the field,” said Shin Tae-yong.
Shin Tae-yong also highlighted the stamina of the Indonesian national team players in the match against Singapore. Shin Tae-yong considered that one of the reasons for the decrease in the intensity of the Indonesian national team’s game in the second half was that the players were getting tired.
The Indonesian national team is scheduled to face Singapore again in the second leg of the 2020 AFF Cup semifinals, Saturday (12/25/2021). The game is won by Indonesia with score 4-2
