INDONESIAN U23 FALTERS TO HYUNDAI

The team which will play against Maldives on Feb 7 just could not get the better of the side from South Korea despite having the inclusion of Atep – the youngster who did well for the senior side at the Asean Football Championship (pic).

The only goal of the match was scored by Lee Hyun in the 32nd minute.

IN THE MEANTIME, the Indonesian FA (PSSI) revealed that the U23 side is likely to play more international matches abroad following the decision by the Singapore FA to turn down their request to play in Singapore’s S-League.

One of the reasons given by the Singapore FA was that the young side from Indonesia does not have the ‘quality’ to be competitive in the S-League based on their performance at the recent Asian Games.

Noegraha Besoes, the general secretary of PSSI was recently quoted as saying that he was not overly disappointed with the decision as the Singapore FA had to consider other factors as well.

“It is obvious that they want quality in their league and where considering that the Indonesian U23 side was up against several other teams, the decision was theirs to make,” added Besoes.

Following the decision not to allow the Indonesia U23 side – who had intended to use the name Pelita – the Singapore FA has allowed teams from China and South Korea to play in the S-League instead.