PSSI Director of Technology is relieved that the Indonesian national team is not in the same group as France in the U-20 World Cup

NOBARTV NEWS – PSSI Technical Director Indra Sjafri is grateful that Young Garuda is in the same pot as the French National Team so they don't have the opportunity to meet in the group phase.

As is known, in U-20 World Cup This year, the number of pots available is 4. Each pot consists of six teams. Later, each group will be filled with 4 teams taken from each pot. So, the total number of groups that will compete is six with each group filled with four countries.

For pot 1, Indonesian National team joined by five strong teams, namely the French U-20 National Team, Uruguay U-20 National Team, Italian U-20 National Team, United States U-20 National Team, and Senegal U-20 National Team. Thus, the young Garuda squad will certainly not be in a group with these five teams. Only contestants from pots 2, 3 and 4 have a chance of being in the same group as the Indonesian National Team.

This certainty made PSSI Technical Director Indra Sjafri feel relieved. The reason is, Indonesia will certainly not meet the French national team, which is known to be one of the strongest teams in the U-20 World Cup.

Previously, Shin Tae-yong's squad had met the French U-20 National Team in a trial match. At that time, the young Garuda squad was undergoing a training camp in Europe, specifically in Spain. While both in Spain, Muhammad Ferrari et al had the opportunity to play against two U-20 World Cup contestants, namely the French U-20 National Team and the Slovak U-20 National Team.

In the match against France U-20, Cahya Supriadi's goal was scored by 6 goals without reply. In fact, in that match, two potential young Garuda naturalized players had joined. They are Ivar Jenner (FC Utrecht U-21) and Justin Hubner (Wolverhampton Wanderers U-21).

Therefore, after learning that the French U-20 National Team was in the same pot as the Indonesian National Team, Indra Sjafri admitted that he felt relieved.

"Yes, this is a drawing, so it can't be engineered. "So, God willing, we have to face whoever we are," said Indra Sjafri Monday (20/03) yesterday.

"What is clear is that our opponents are outside Pot 1. We will play against Pot 2, Pot 3 and Pot 4. So those are our potential opponents and France is not the same opponent as us," he added.

"What is clear is that we are safe, we are not playing against France," concluded the man who also serves as coach of the U-22 Indonesian National Team.

To be clearer, here is the distribution of pots 1 – 4 for the 20 U-2023 World Cup:

Pot 1: Senegal, United States, Italy, France and Uruguay.

Pot 2: Brazil, England, South Korea, Ecuador, New Zealand and Colombia.

Pot 3: Honduras, Japan, Iraq, Nigeria, Uzbekistan and Fiji.

Pot 4: Israel, Guatemala, Tunisia, Dominican Republic, Gambia and Slovakia