U.23 lost to U.23 Vietnam, big boss of Indonesian football rejected a 'unique' idea

Although the Indonesian team has naturalized players, the U.23 Vietnam team is still regressing, but the U.23 Vietnam team is making strong progress.

Indonesian newspaper Bola pointed out the decline of the country's U.23 team in less than a year and a half, from 4th place in the 2024 AFC U.23 Championship under coach Shin Tae-yong. Now, under the leadership of Dutch coach Gerald Vanenburg, with up to 4 naturalized players, the young team of the archipelago country still cannot pass the qualifying round to enter the Asian Finals taking place in early 2026.

U.23 thua liểng xiểng U.23 Việt Nam, sếp lớn bóng đá Indonesia bác bỏ một ý tưởng ‘độc lạ’- Ảnh 1. — The U.23 Indonesia team lost to U.23 Vietnam in the final of the U.23 Southeast Asia, now they continue to watch their opponent enter the Asian finals for the 6th consecutive time.

"It is necessary to improve the Indonesian U.23 team, organizing a separate tournament for this age group is extremely necessary," Bola emphasized. This reason was also motivated by coach Gerald Vanenburg's complaint that the Indonesian U.23 team lost 0-1 to the Korean U.23 team on September 9 and was eliminated from the 2026 AFC U.23 Championship, because the country's young players are rarely used by clubs to play in the national championship, which is full of foreign players.

"No, it is difficult (to create a separate tournament for U.23 players). But in the second division, we will encourage U.23 players to have more opportunities to play. In the third and fourth divisions, perhaps the club squads next year (2026) will also include more young players. I think that is something we can do," said Erick Thohir, President of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI), and somewhat rejected the idea of organizing a separate U.23 tournament for young players to compete.

Mr. Erick Thohir also frankly explained the statement of coach Gerald Vanenburg: "Yes, anything we do to improve the national championship and the teams, we will definitely review.

We just had an executive meeting. For example, in the future, is it necessary for U.23 players to play in the second division? The level of competition at the U.17 and U.20 Indonesian teams is quite good (both participated in the World Cup finals at their respective ages), but the U.21 and U.23 levels are still not at the optimal level."

According to Mr. Erick Thohir, PSSI will have many plans to organize tournaments from April and May in 2026, gathering many participating clubs. It is expected that these tournaments will be the foundation for the development of young players. In addition, the 3rd and 4th division tournaments will also start taking place.

"Next year, PSSI hopes to see a certain percentage of young players participating in the national championships in the lower divisions. From there, we will review everything and try to improve the development of the Indonesian football foundation and start from the internal strength of young players," Mr. Erick Thohir concluded.

Meanwhile, public opinion in Indonesia believes that youth football in this country must be quickly systematized and developed sustainably. Meanwhile, if compared to Vietnamese football, the U.23 team has always maintained success and abundant force, to have won the Southeast Asian championship 3 times in a row recently (including 2022, 2023 and 2025).

Just like the U.23 Vietnam team has entered the final round of the U.23 Asian Cup 6 times in a row. This is the foundation for supplementing and inheriting the strength of the Vietnam team. Meanwhile, the Indonesian teams only follow the path of naturalization and there will be a time when everything is saturated and will become disappointing.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/u23-thua-lieng-xieng-u23-viet-nam-sep-lon-bong-da-indonesia-bac-bo-mot-y-tuong-doc-la-185250911103247462.htm