Jakarta, 14 July 2025: Indonesia U-23 head coach Gerald Vanenburg is eagerly anticipating his side’s opening match at the ASEAN U-23 Mandiri Cup™ 2025 as the tournament hosts prepare to face Brunei Darussalam at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on Tuesday.
The Dutchman was put in charge of the team in January but he has not coached them in a competitive match ahead of this tournament, which is a showcase for ASEAN football’s rising stars.
“At the end, I think I'm happy that we can start, because it's been a long time that we have been training and preparing ourselves for this tournament. So, I'm happy that we can get started!” said the 61-year-old, who is also an assistant coach for Indonesia’s national team under Patrick Kluivert.
Indonesia enter the Mandiri Cup™ 2025 as favourites, given their home ground advantage and the country’s recent performances at this level. They were runners-up at the last ASEAN U-23 Championship in 2023 and reached the semi-finals of the AFC U-23 Asian Cup last year.
While Vanenburg doesn’t want his players to underestimate any of their opponents in Group A, which also features Malaysia and the Philippines, he wants his team to deliver a statement of intent from the start.
“I think if you play in a tournament, you always try and give everything. There has a been a lot of talk about us playing in the same group as Malaysia, and of course, it is a challenge to play against them. But we also have to look for the Philippines and Brunei because those two teams are also in our group,” he said.
“I think you have to try to win the game and at the end, you know, everybody prepares themselves to do something special in the tournament and hopefully we can show them what we have done to prepare our team.”
Brunei lost all of their six games in the previous ASEAN U-23 Championship but head coach Aminuddin Jumat is also keen to see his side in competitive action.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to join this tournament. Of course, we understand it is a big challenge for us, especially in a group with the hosts Indonesia as well as Malaysia,” he said.
“We know their development and their ability, but we came here to show our progress, and our objective is to learn and improve our quality. This is a good opportunity for the development process of our U-23 team.”
Malaysia and Philippines will meet in the ASEAN U-23 Mandiri Cup™ 2025 opening game at 5.00pm local time, before Indonesia face Brunei at 8.00pm. Find out where you can watch the game LIVE here. You can also follow the action on @aseanutdfc on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, X and LinkedIn.
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