Indonesian soccer players pose at the podium during the third place award ceremony of the 2024 ASEAN U-16 Boys Championship at Manahan Stadium in Surakarta, Central Java, on July 3, 2024. Indonesia won third place in the competition after beating Vietnam 5-0 in the third place play-off. (Antara/Mohammad Ayudha)
Indonesia won third place in the 2024 ASEAN U-16 Boys Championships soccer tournament after defeating Vietnam on Wednesday.
The Young Garudas managed to score five goals and kept a clean sheet against Vietnam in the third place play-off at Manahan Stadium in Surakarta, Central Java.
Forward Muhamad Zahaby Gholy opened the scoring just a minute before the first half’s injury time. Winger Dafa Zaidan El Fikri doubled the lead four minutes later.
The third goal for Indonesia came from Daniel Alfrido in the 74th minute. Three minutes later, Zahaby netted his second goal after receiving an assist from center-forward Mierza Firjatullah.
Mierza provided another assist to Daniel, who scored the fifth goal in the 82nd minute.
Indonesian soccer player Muhamad Zahaby Gholy celebrates with supporters after scoring a goal during the 2024 ASEAN U-16 Boys Championship third place play-off match against Vietnam at Manahan Stadium in Surakarta, Central Java, on July 3, 2024. Indonesia beat Vietnam 5-0, winning third place in the competition. (Antara/Mohammad Ayudha )
The landslide victory came after Indonesia lost 5-3 to Australia in the tournament’s semifinal on Monday.
Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) chair Erick Thohir said he was proud of the victory against Vietnam, but urged the junior team, managed by former player Nova Arianto, to keep their heads down.
“The player and the coach must also reflect on their loss against Australia, especially considering the fact that Indonesia was the defending champion of the tournament,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
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Erick, who is also the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) minister, hoped that the Young Garudas’ latest victory could boost their morale ahead of the 2025 AFC U-17 Cup qualifiers, slated for October in Surabaya, East Java.
Indonesia will face Australia, Kuwait and Northern Mariana Islands in the qualifier’s Group G.
“We need to prove that we can perform better than today,” Erick said. “We need to rise above our losses, score a lot of goals and prove that we have a champion’s mentality.”
Australia came out as the champion of this year’s ASEAN U-16 Boys Championship, after beating Thailand 8-7 in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw at full time on Wednesday.