Coach Shin Tae-yong is making a spectacular comeback at U.23 Indonesia, U.23 Korea, be careful!

U.23 Indonesia ‘transformed’

Coach Shin Tae-yong’s U.23 Indonesia is one of the teams that has made the strongest progress in football, not only in Southeast Asia, but also in Asia in the past 2 years alone.

In 2022, U.23 Indonesia lost to U.23 Thailand in the semi-finals of SEA Games 31, sadly accepting the bronze medal. But just 2 years later, in the first time stepping out to the “big sea” of Asia, Mr. Shin Tae-yong’s students won against U.23 Australia (1-0) and U.23 Jordan (4-1). In the only defeat they suffered in Group A against U.23 Qatar, U.23 Indonesia also played very well, before the turning point called the red card that Ivar Jenner received appeared.

The quarterfinal ticket is not only worthy of Indonesia U.23’s performance, but also an affirmation of the right direction of Indonesian football.

As soon as they won the right to host the 2021 U.20 World Cup, Indonesian football invested heavily in the generation born in 2001, of which Rizky Ridho (Indonesia U.23 captain) and Witan Sulaeman are typical seeds. After the U.20 World Cup was postponed for 2 years, Indonesia continued to invest in the 2003 and 2004 batch, then reaped the “sweet fruit” with Marselino Ferdinan and Hokky Caraka.

Although Indonesia ultimately missed the U.20 World Cup due to reasons outside of football, the simultaneous and focused investment helped Indonesia harvest two batches of good players. The most valuable thing is that the two generations have intersected and exploded in 2024, when U.23 Indonesia steps onto the most important playing field.

That explosion is closely related to coach Shin Tae-yong. When taking over the Indonesian team in early 2020, Mr. Shin eliminated up to 70% of the current national players and asserted that they were “not worthy of wearing the Indonesian shirt”. The rejuvenation started with a series of U.23 seeds being planted on the team.

What is worth mentioning is that despite failing many times in the first 3 years, coach Shin Tae-yong still did not give up. The Indonesian team was young, now even younger. Even when naturalized, Indonesia also selected players in their twenties such as Jenner (2004), Rafael Struick and Justin Hubner (2003) or Nathan Tjoe-A-On (2001).

A future generation was protected and nurtured by Mr. Shin Tae-yong during the darkest period of Indonesian football. The result of that rejuvenation process is a young but not inexperienced team, playing an attractive style of football that U.23 Indonesia has never shown in history.

U.23 Korea must be wary of Shin Tae-yong

“Before I arrived, Indonesian football had hit bottom so there was no other way but to continue to rise,” coach Shin Tae-yong replied to the website. Newsisbefore the day U.23 Indonesia faced U.23 Korea.

Indonesian football surpassed martial arts when coach Shin Tae-yong appeared. But it was the Korean teacher who had an extremely spectacular comeback, to rise from a place of doubt, to become an irreplaceable figure at this time.

Before the 2023 Asian Cup, Mr. Shin’s future was questioned. Because although the contract with PSSI is only valid until the end of 2023, the Korean coach only signed for another 6 months. That is just enough time for Mr. Shin to take charge of the team to complete the Asian Cup, then play in the 2024 U.23 Asian finals.

Despite coach Shin Tae-yong’s team hinting at leaving and having invitations from other teams, PSSI President Erick Thohir has not changed his opinion: Mr. Shin needs achievements in the team and U.23 before moving on. signed further. That is, Coach Shin at that time had not yet won the full trust of Indonesian officials. The only way is to win to prove yourself.

The past 4 months have been the best time for coach Shin Tae-yong. He brought the Indonesian team past the Asian Cup group stage for the first time, getting very close to the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup. Then, now it is the quarterfinal ticket for U.23 Indonesia.

The playing style Mr. Shin has worked hard to develop has been formed. But more importantly, the Korean coach is also a tactical “chameleon”. U.23 Indonesia plays very diversely, adapting to each opponent and can rotate many different tactical shapes. This is the difference in the youth playground, when the players often play quite “purely”, without tricks or variations like the team level.

U.23 Korea cannot be negligent in the face of such an unpleasant opponent. With coach Shin Tae-yong, Indonesian football will continue to dream.