Indonesia’s U-22 national football team entered the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand as defending champions, burdened with expectations after their historic gold medal in Cambodia in 2023. Instead, they exited at the group stage, losing 1–0 to the Philippines and failing to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2009, a collapse that team manager Kombes Pol Sumardji has described as “the most difficult team” he has ever handled and a result that “doesn’t make sense.”

Image Illustration. Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

The shock defeat against the Philippines U-22, who went on to reach the SEA Games semifinals for the first time in 34 years, has triggered an intense post‑mortem inside Indonesian football circles and raised uncomfortable questions about player mentality, preparation, and the weight of public expectation.

From Historic High in 2023 to Stark Low in 2025

Just two years earlier, Indonesia’s U-22 side were hailed as national heroes after clinching gold at the 2023 SEA Games in Phnom Penh. They defeated Thailand 5–2 after extra time in a dramatic final dubbed the “Battle of Phnom Penh,” delivering Indonesia’s first SEA Games men’s football title in 32 years and only the third in its history.

In that 2023 tournament, Indonesia topped Group A with four wins from four matches, scoring 13 goals and conceding just once, before eliminating two-time defending champions Vietnam in the semifinals and overpowering Thailand in the final. The campaign underscored a sense that Indonesia was finally turning its vast footballing potential into sustained success at youth level.

A Group-Stage Exit That “Doesn’t Make Sense”

SEA Games 33 in Thailand, held in December 2025, was supposed to be a continuation of that trajectory. Indonesia were drawn into Group C alongside Myanmar and the Philippines after Cambodia withdrew from the men’s football competition, a change that actually reduced Indonesia’s group-stage workload. Sumardji himself acknowledged that having only two group matches — against Myanmar and the Philippines — would give his squad “more time to train, perfect their tactics and improve their physical and mental health,” and admitted that the reshuffle was “good for Indonesia.”

Reality unfolded very differently. Indonesia opened their campaign with a 1–0 defeat to the Philippines on 8 December 2025 at Chiang Mai’s 700th Anniversary Stadium. A solitary goal from Ato Banatao just before half-time proved decisive, and Indonesia failed to respond in the second half. The result not only put Indonesia on the brink of elimination, it also propelled the Philippines U-22 into their first SEA Games semifinal appearance in 34 years, underlining just how consequential the upset was in regional terms.

Speaking days after the loss, Sumardji appeared visibly stunned. He described the defeat as “weird” and “illogical,” suggesting it was far removed from his expectations after observing the squad in training. He admitted to being “shocked” and questioned whether he had been “hard enough” in motivating the players ahead of what should have been a must‑win opener for a defending champion.

Defending Champions Under Pressure

Indonesia’s failure in 2025 is heightened by the context of their broader SEA Games record. Between the inaugural tournament and 2023, Indonesia had only claimed men’s football gold three times and had also endured several group-stage exits, including in 1983, 1995, 2003, 2007, and 2009. The 2023 triumph in Cambodia was widely seen as a turning point, ending a 32‑year drought and indicating that reforms within the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) and investments in youth development were paying off.

By 2023, Indonesia had also finished third overall in the SEA Games medals table, sending 599 athletes to compete in 31 sports and collecting 87 gold medals, underlining a broader national ambition to climb the regional sporting hierarchy. Football, the country’s most popular sport by some distance, is strategically central to that aspiration and carries a disproportionate share of political and public scrutiny compared with other disciplines.

“The Most Difficult Team”: Mentality, Cohesion, and Expectations

Sumardji’s claim that this U-22 squad is “the most difficult team” he has handled points to deeper issues than tactics or formation. While he did not publicly single out individual players, he repeatedly alluded to mentality, motivation and internal dynamics — factors that are harder to quantify than shots on target or possession percentages but often decisive in short tournaments where margins are thin.

Sports psychologists have long argued that young athletes facing heavy external expectations can suffer performance drops when pressure outpaces their coping mechanisms. Research on youth elite footballers in high‑pressure environments, for example in European academies, has linked perceived pressure and fear of failure with reduced decision‑making quality and increased in‑game anxiety, suggesting that talent alone is not enough without structured mental conditioning and leadership support.

In Indonesia’s case, the 2025 U‑22 side carried a unique burden: they were not just representing the national colors, but also playing in the immediate shadow of a golden generation that had just delivered a long‑awaited SEA Games title. That legacy can be double‑edged — inspiring, but also suffocating, especially when comparisons are inevitable and public patience is thin.

Tactical Questions and Regional Rivals’ Rise

Beyond mentality, tactical and structural issues have also been raised following the early exit. Indonesia’s 2023 champions were defined by high pressing, quick transitions and a direct attacking edge, as reflected in their 13–1 goal difference in the group stage and five goals scored in the final alone. In contrast, the 2025 side labored to create clear chances and struggled to break down a disciplined Philippines defense, even as they enjoyed stretches of possession.

At the same time, several Southeast Asian rivals have accelerated their own youth development programs. The Philippines’ breakthrough into the SEA Games semifinals after more than three decades, built on a generation increasingly exposed to international club systems and dual‑nationality recruits, is a reminder that regional parity is tightening and that historical hierarchies in ASEAN football are no longer guaranteed. The upset over Indonesia fits into a broader pattern of improving competitiveness across the region, from Vietnam’s back‑to‑back SEA Games titles in 2019 and 2021 to Thailand’s sustained presence in youth competitions overseen by the Asian Football Confederation.

What the Setback Means for Indonesian Football

Indonesia’s group‑stage elimination in Thailand is more than a single tournament disappointment; it is an early stress test for the broader reforms that PSSI has promised in the wake of on‑field underachievement and off‑field crises over the past decade. Youth national teams are a critical component of the federation’s stated ambition to compete regularly on the Asian stage and, eventually, qualify for a senior FIFA World Cup — a goal that has been publicly embraced by Indonesian officials for the 2030s and beyond.

In the short term, attention will focus on whether the coaching staff and administrators can extract lessons from a campaign that, in Sumardji’s own words, defied logic. In practical terms, that likely means a hard look at how U-22 squads are assembled, how much continuity they enjoy from U-19 and U-20 levels, and how much emphasis is placed on psychological resilience and leadership, not just technical skill.

Conclusion: A Warning Signal, Not the Final Word

Indonesia’s failure to reach the SEA Games 2025 semifinals with its U‑22 team is a jarring contrast to the euphoric scenes in Phnom Penh just two years earlier. For Sumardji, who has labeled this squad the “most difficult team” he has ever managed, the experience is both a personal and institutional reckoning.

Whether this setback becomes a turning point or a warning unheeded will depend on how Indonesian football responds in the coming months — not only by seeking tactical fixes, but by confronting the complex mix of expectations, psychology and development pathways that define modern elite youth football in Southeast Asia.