Jakarta. Young Garudas --the nickname for Indonesia’s junior national team-- won 4-0 against their Maldivian counterpart at the AFC U-20 Asian Cup Qualifiers in Jakarta on Wednesday evening.

Unlike the previous Yemen vs Timor Leste match that took place a few hours ago, the Young Garudas did not have to play in the rain, although the air felt humid. The first half saw the Young Garudas making numerous attempts at hitting the net, but failed. Indonesia then bounced back in the second half with four consecutive goals. Netherlands-born Jens Raven, who gave Indonesia its fourth goal, admitted that the first half was tough. Ravens himself even missed his chance to score a goal several times. 

“The first half was a very tough match because Maldives was really defensive. That’s why I said earlier that we have to underestimate nobody because it was really tough, and they were really playing in defense [mode],” Ravens told a press conference later that evening. 

At the 34th minute, Young Garudas was close to scoring a goal, although the ball hit the post. It was in the second half that the Indonesian team finally bounced back by scoring four goals with the first one being made by Aditya Warman in the 52nd minute. This was followed by Figo Dennis’ goal at the 55th minute, and another one by Toni Firmansyah about three minutes later. Raven scored the final goal that evening in the 65th minute. 

Maldives’ head coach Ahmed Shakir told a separate press briefing that his team had struggled facing their Indonesian counterpart. 

“Indonesia has made better preparations [compared to us] for this tournament. The team has been playing a lot since January,” Shakir said. 

As many as 1,548 people came to the Gelora Bung Karno Madya Stadium to watch the match in person. However, considering the stadium boasts 9,170 seats in capacity, the venue could be considered almost empty. Indonesian youth team’s head coach Indra Sjafri even commented on the empty seats, saying that enthusiasm would soar if the national team could play well.

“[The attendance] is not my field. … But I believe if the team can perform well and show progress and pass the qualifiers, I’m pretty sure many people would watch the match. Indonesians now have exquisite taste [in football],” Indra said.