Jakarta –
Nathan Tjoe-A-On’s career with the U-23 Indonesian National Team is over. He had to leave the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup in Qatar earlier than his teammates.
That’s because Nathan has to return to his club in the Netherlands, namely SC Heerenveen. This is because of an agreement between Nathan’s club and PSSI.
Quoted from detikSport, Nathan Tjoe-A-On left the Indonesian U-23 National Team as Garuda Muda qualified for the Round of 8 of the U-23 Asian Cup. The U-23 national team secured a place in the preliminary round after winning 4-1 over Jordan in the final match of the group phase, Sunday (22/4/2024).
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PSSI Executive Committee (Exco) member Arya Sinulingga said that Nathan’s withdrawal was a mutual agreement. The player was not released for long by his club outside of FIFA’s agenda.
“Indeed, yesterday we lobbied Nathan’s club and from the results of that lobbying, initially they (Heerenveen) were really reluctant to let Nathan go,” said Arya at the journalists’ forum.
“The chairman (PSSI, Erick Thohir) asked directly, at least to qualify for the top 8 because our initial target was there and Mr. Ketum put in a real effort so that Nathan could play until the target that Mr. Ketum had targeted was Shin Tae-yong,” he said.
Realizing that the U-23 Asian Cup was outside FIFA’s agenda, PSSI finally made an agreement with Heerenveen. Namely asking Nathan Tjoe-A-On to be released for just a week while the U-23 National Team competes in the group phase.
“That’s why Sir Ketum really tried to lobby Nathan’s club to be able to play. At first they didn’t want to let go because it wasn’t on FIFA’s agenda,” said Arya.
“But in the end we were given the go-ahead when we asked to reach the top 8 or qualify for the group. And now we have passed the group and indeed that is the lobbying and effort we put into Nathan’s club like that,” he said.
The Swansea City loan player was plotted as a replacement for Ivar Jenner, who was absent due to a red card. Impressively, Nathan performed quite well in midfield even though his original playing position was wing-back.
This article was published on detikSport with the title Nathan Tjoe-A-On’s duties in the U-23 Indonesian National Team are complete
(mro/orb)