Indonesia's warm-up opponents were announced on May 26, Beijing time, and they will challenge Palestine on the 14th and meet Argentina on the 19th.
Many media said that Indonesia prepared more than 5 million $ for the warm-up matches. In the future, they will challenge other strong teams such as Brazil, Portugal, Morocco and others. Palestine and Indonesia will fly to China to challenge the national soccer team after the warm-up match.
Indonesia, ranked 149th in the world, finished bottom of the group stage of the first phase of the last World Qualifiers, behind the UAE, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. This year, they will play in the Asian Cup, but at the last level. However, they just won the Southeast Asian Games, beating Vietnam and Thailand. Next up for them are Palestine and Argentina.
Indonesia's opponents, Palestine, are not well ranked in Asia but are good. A large number of players play in Egypt and other leagues, some of which are naturalized players. The national soccer team will also be competing against Palestine, and Indonesia and the national soccer team can compare results side by side.
On the other hand, Argentina's original opponent in China could have been the national soccer team, but due to the disapproval of Du Zhaocai and others, he changed it to Australia for the time being.
Indonesia's soccer association is led by former Inter Milan boss Thohir, who is currently more high-profile than Zhang Kangyang and others. He said the tournament would create an unprecedented "fever" in Indonesia, providing a good experience for Indonesian players to help them mature in the future. With the World Cup title on the line, Indonesia plans to invite more opponents to warm up in the future and must have a strong team.
In addition to Argentina, Thohir said they have contacted Brazil, Portugal, Morocco (third in the World Cup) and other associations with favorable reviews. In addition, Russia, which has been unable to find an opponent, has contacted Indonesia.
With a nod from Indonesia, Russia will come and warm up with them with little problem and maybe even no cost. Indonesia, which already offends Jews, is not afraid to contact Russia. Indonesia initially hosted the U20 World Cup, but they refused to recognize Israel.
Thohir also said that such a strong team can only come with one team per year. That means no warm-ups for Portugal or Brazil and Indonesia this year.
However, Indonesia hoped that that trend would continue. It is not expected to have too much money each year. Indonesian fans get to see superstars at home every year, maybe Ronaldo or Neymar next year.
Unlike the national soccer team, Indonesia believes that the team can be transformed by naturalizing players and warming up against stronger teams. They don't hesitate to invest in getting strong teams in warm-up matches. At the same time, they have convinced a large number of youngsters born in Europe to join Indonesia, but let them stay in Europe instead of going to the Indonesian league.
On the other hand, they won't let go of foreigners who play in the Indonesian league. Crocker (born in Holland) already exists. , Amat (born in Barcelona, Spain), Lili Pali (born in Netherlands) represent Indonesia. All of them have been in the Indonesian league for five years. I am afraid there will be more such naturalized players in the future.
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