Suara.com – Indonesian National Team coach, Shin Tae Yong, is still optimistic about the strength of the Garuda Squad in the 2023 Asian Cup. Even though Shin Tae-yong admits that his opponents are strong there.
One of them is Japan, he said that the Japanese national team would be the most difficult challenge in Group D of the 2023 Asian Cup.
According to him, Samurai Blue deserves praise because it is considered a team that is close to perfection.
Indonesian National Team Coach, Shin Tae Yong (pssi.org)
In the same group, the Indonesian National Team competes with Iraq and fellow Southeast Asian representatives, Vietnam.
Even though the FIFA ranking places Indonesia as the weakest team in this group, Shin Tae Yong doesn’t care about it, considering the ranking as just a number.
“Japan is the best team in Asia at the moment. Their balance of attack and defense is very good. I admit they are almost perfect in Asia,” he said, as reported by Chosun Sport.
Shin Tae Yong believes that rankings are just statistics, while player confidence is a key factor.
The focus is on increasing the players’ confidence to face more favored teams.
“The ranking is just a number. This is the confidence of the players. I am thinking about how to improve the confidence of the players,” he added.
The Indonesian national team will start their journey in the 2023 Asian Cup group phase by facing Iraq on January 15.
Even though he is considered an underdog team, Shin Tae Yong is optimistic that his courage and unbroken spirit when facing stronger opponents can produce a performance beyond expectations.