SUARA SEMARANG – The Indonesian national team which is being rebuilt by PSSI chairman Erick Thohir is underestimated by Malaysia.
The Malaysian national team is even said to be reluctant to play with Indonesia because of a note from FIFA. Playing against Indonesia is no longer a priority for this neighboring country.
Erick Thohir must take the comments from the Malaysian National Team seriously by making the Indonesian National Team even better. In fact, currently the Indonesian National Team is still below Malaysia.
This was widely discussed and it was the Malaysian coach who said that the Malaysian national team was better than the Indonesian national team.
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At least that is based on FIFA’s records, which regularly releases rankings for national teams in world countries. In fact, Indonesia is ranked 147th with 1,053 points while Malaysia is ranked 134th with 1,095 points.
If you look at the ranking, it is actually natural that the Malaysian National Team does not want to play against the Indonesian National Team. Because if they lose, Malaysia, which is ranked higher, will get a lot of points deducted.
Even though the record for meetings between the Indonesian and Malaysian national teams is relatively even. Moreover, currently the Indonesian National Team, which is managed by Erick Thohir, has experienced rapid improvement.
The Indonesian national team itself actually doesn’t have much of an advantage against Malaysia on FIFA Match Day. The reason is, the quality of the Indonesian National Team players has improved a lot and is already at the Asian level and no longer Southeast Asia.
Moreover, if you look at the details of each country’s squad, Erick Thohir doesn’t need to be embarrassed because the Indonesian national team is much better at the moment.
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The Indonesian national team has an average age of 26 years 4 months, while Malaysia’s is 28 years. In terms of squad value, the Indonesian National Team is also superior with 136.88 billion compared to 115.59 billion.
In the last five matches, the Indonesian National Team only lost once and the remaining three wins and one draw. Erick Thohir witnessed the defeat of the Indonesian national team against Argentina.
Furthermore, for the Indonesian National Team’s opponent on FIFA Match Day, Erick Thohir was asked to find an opponent whose ranking was much higher.
Apart from the advantage of getting lots of points, playing against a highly ranked national team will also provide experience for young players.
In the hands of Erick Thohir, the progress of the Indonesian National Team has been much better, as evidenced by the presence of players from up to FIFA rankings.***