Indonesian fans ‘turned away’ from the home team, demanding the immediate dismissal of coach Shin Tae Yong

At 16:00 on May 19 at Thien Truong Stadium, the first semi-final match of the 31st SEA Games men’s football between U23 Indonesia and U23 Thailand took place. Underrated, coach Shin Tae Yong’s army actively played counter-attack from the beginning. At one point, they even put the entire squad on the home field and gave up the game to Thailand U23. But the attack of “War Elephants” squandered a lot of opportunities and could not get a goal.

Entering the second half, Indonesia played more proactively, but Thailand was still the better team in terms of the game. However, the attack of the two teams still lacked the luck to break the deadlock. After the official 90 minutes, Indonesia and Thailand drew 0-0 and pulled each other into 30 minutes of extra time. Here, U23 Thailand is a more brave team and they got the “golden goal” in the 96th minute thanks to Weerathep Pommphum.

Thailand got an important goal in extra time

This was also the only goal of the match and helped Thailand U23 enter the final. Having to admit defeat in the semi-finals in a regretful way caused U23 Indonesia and coach Shin Tae Yong to receive fierce criticism from home fans. Even the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) also suffered from negative comments from fans of the land of thousands of islands.

Astroboy fans commented: “Hopefully Thailand will win and coach Shin Tae Yong will be fired. Indonesia needs a high-quality local coach like Mr. Indra Sjafri, who regularly brings home trophies for the country’s football.”

Toni Kisworo fan commented: “Our team is Thailand’s ‘junior’. Their skills and techniques are superior to Indonesia’s. Obviously, the way of controlling the ball, holding the ball and rotating the ball is very good.”

Ferdiyan fans commented: “There is still no clear game plan from the national team, although there are a lot of creative players like Egypt, Witan, Marsel, Kambuaya, Abi. Obviously our play is in trouble.”

Meanwhile, Kevin Lukas fan expressed his disappointment with coach Shin Tae Yong and the team: “I said that Shin Tae Yong is an ordinary coach, as evidenced by the fact that he has been given the freedom to choose players to attend the SEA Games. Basically I am very disappointed with the way staff are used. his job and ready to be sacked by PSSI. Honestly, Indra Sjafri is still worthy of the seat of Indonesia team.”