Coach Shin Tae-yong decided to change his luck against Thailand

*Indonesia - Thailand: 16:30 on Thursday, December 29, on MetaSports.

Shin Tae-yong led South Korea in the 2018 World Cup finals. Therefore, he received many expectations when driving Indonesia. But under his reign, the team of thousands of islands has not been able to make a breakthrough, at least in the confrontations with Thailand. They drew 2-2 in the second qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup, lost 0-4 in the first leg and drew 2-2 in the second leg of the AFF Cup final 2020. When leading Indonesia U23, he and his students continued to lose to U23 Thailand. Lan in the semi-finals of the SEA Games 2021.

But before the reunion in the fourth round of Group A AFF Cup tomorrow, December 29, coach Shin promises that Indonesia can beat Thailand. "In the past, I couldn't control the team well because of Covid-19," he told a pre-match press conference at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium. "But after almost a year, I've got the situation under control, helped the team improve and cohesive in the game. I would like to emphasize that everyone can count on the current Indonesian team."

With the same six points, but Indonesia is ranked below Thailand due to poor goal difference (+8 vs +9). Therefore, a victory will help Shin's teachers and students firmly hold the top of the table to soon enter the semi-finals. "Indeed, this match is the most important in Group A," said the Korean leader. "I have told the whole team how important it is, I want them to give their best and I am ready to make sacrifices for this team."

Indonesia have scored nine goals since the start of the tournament but the strikers have contributed only two of them, thanks to Ramadhan Sananta and Ilija Spasojevic in a 7-0 win over the weakest team Brunei. Coach Shin believes that the main task of the striker is to score goals, but there is something more important than that, which is to contribute to the collective victory.

However, in the first half of the Brunei match, the camera caught the moment when coach Shin seemed to be angry with winger Egy Maulana Vikri. At that time, the game was paused for a player to be cared for by a doctor, and the Korean coach immediately called "10" out of the touchline to ask him to make a faster decision.

In the opening match against Cambodia on December 23, Indonesia opened the scoring thanks to Egy in the 7th minute, but was equalized eight minutes later and won only 2-1. According to the Indonesian press, coach Shin was very angry with his students in the dressing room after that match. He said that Indonesia missed too many delicious opportunities, in which Egy had a situation to face the Cambodian goalkeeper but handled it cumbersomely and then lost the ball.

Egy is the brightest talent of Indonesian football. He was once ranked by the British Guardian newspaper as one of the 60 most promising players born in 2000 in the world. The 22-year-old star started his career at Polish club Lechia Gdansk and then played for Senica (Slovakia). On December 15, Egy terminated his contract with Slovak club ViOn Zlata Moravce and returned to focus with the Indonesian team for the 2022 AFF Cup.