Brazil U-17 national team coach, Phelipe Leal praised Indonesia’s readiness to host the U-17 World Cup. He was amazed by the splendor of the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS), which will be where his team will compete during the group phase.
“This is very crazy,” said Phelipe, shaking his head when he saw the splendor of the stadium in Indonesia, quoted from the official statement from the LOC media team for the U-17 World Cup, Monday, November 6.
Brazil is in group C with England, Iran and New Caledonia. Since the beginning of the group draw and the determination of the match schedule, Felipe admitted that he had not had time to find out where his team would compete.
The 34 year old coach was surprised when he saw the Jakarta International Stadium in person. He did not expect Indonesia to have such a magnificent stadium. According to him, indirectly, this shows Indonesia’s seriousness as the organizer of this biennial event.
“This is my first time coming to Indonesia, at first I didn’t have time to find out which stadium we would be playing in. I thought they didn’t have proper preparation to host it. But I saw that they were very serious,” he said. “This is a big stadium, it has beauty and I am very surprised that they can make a stadium like this.”
Ecuador’s U-17 national team coach, Diego Martinez, also said the same thing. Joined in group A with Indonesia, Panama and Morocco who will play group stage matches at the Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium, Surabaya, he said he had underestimated the quality of the arena.
This is because the location of the Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium is located in the middle of rice fields. However, his assumption was refuted when he saw the stadium directly. “At first I was confused by the atmosphere of the stadium here. Some of the surrounding areas didn’t look like there were buildings for resting and there were only rice fields.”
“At first I thought that the facilities in the stadium would be bad, but it turns out they have a magnificent and big stadium. I have to appreciate those who prepared such a magnificent stadium in a rice field area,” he added.
The U-17 World Cup will start from November 10 to December 2. Ecuador is scheduled to play its first match against Indonesia on Friday, November 10. Meanwhile, Brazil will play Iran on Saturday, November 11 2023.
Source: Tempo.com
