At 8:00 p.m. today (December 21), the Indonesian team will host the Philippines at Manahan Stadium (Surakarta). Before this match, Indonesia had the same 4 points as Myanmar and 1 point more than the Philippines.

Therefore, coach Shin Tae Yong's team is aiming for a victory against the Philippines in hopes of advancing. If they fail, the team from the archipelago will have to stop right from the group stage.

Before this match, coach Shin Tae Yong admitted that the whole team was under a lot of pressure. He shared: "If you say that the team is not under any pressure, that would be a lie. However, at present, Indonesia still has a young and talented squad. We can compete on equal terms with national teams that bring their strongest squads to the tournament."

Coach Shin Tae Yong once again affirmed that using U22 players to participate in this tournament is for the future of Indonesian football, not to compete for the AFF Cup championship.

The Korean strategist added: "We still have certain shortcomings, but the young players of Indonesia still have a year to improve themselves, before heading to the SEA Games. If we win against the Philippines and reach the semi-finals, the young players will have a good opportunity to develop."

Coach Shin Tae Yong refused to predict the outcome of the match against the Philippines. He said: "The match against the Philippines will decide our fate in the 2024 AFF Cup. We will try to work hard and hope for the best result.

I hope the fans will give their full support to the team, whether they come to the stadium or watch on TV. Only then will the whole team have great motivation to rise up and win."

Ahead of this match, the President of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI), Erick Thohir, assigned coach Shin Tae Yong the task of helping the Indonesian team reach the semi-finals of the AFF Cup 2024.

The head of Indonesian football said: "The Indonesian team must take advantage of each match to win to increase its position in the FIFA rankings, including the matches in the AFF Cup. We won against Myanmar but drew with Laos and lost to the Vietnamese team.

These results are not convincing, regardless of the lineup we play with. My goal is still to win every game. Every experiment must be made to the maximum but the team must have good results.

Indonesia needs to win the decisive match against the Philippines. Indonesia needs to reach the semi-finals of the AFF Cup 2024. We want to compete with every team at every level in the world. Being first or second in the group is not important. The important thing is that the team must reach the semi-finals of the AFF Cup 2024. I always have a specific goal for the Indonesian team."

The last time Indonesia were eliminated from the group stage of the AFF Cup was in 2018. In that tournament, they finished fourth in Group B with four points after four matches. They then finished runners-up in the 2020 AFF Cup and reached the semi-finals in the 2022 AFF Cup.