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Shin Tae-yong, the head coach of the Indonesian national soccer team, expressed strong dissatisfaction with the referee's decision after being completely defeated amid unfavorable factors in which two people were sent off from the first match of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Under-23 (U-23) Asian Cup.

Indonesia lost 0-2 to the host country Qatar in the first Group A match held at Jasim bin Hamad Stadium in Alayyan, Qatar on Wednesday. Indonesia, where midfielder Ivar Jenner was sent off due to accumulated number of warnings at the start of the second half, even striker Ramadan Samanta was shown a red card during extra time in the second half. Even Coach Shin strongly protested the game at the 12th minute in the second half, and was given a warning.

According to Indonesia's Antara news agency, Shin Tae-yong said at a press conference after the match, "We can win or lose in soccer. Congratulations on Qatar's victory. The players did their best despite their inferiority in numbers. They did not give up easily."

Shin then directly hit the referee team, saying he made the decision in favor of his home team Qatar. "There were too many (unconvincing) referee decisions during the game, but this is not a soccer game but a comedy show. It was too much," Shin said. "Soccer should not be played this way. When Jenner received his first red card, I had no contact at all."

Shin also criticized that not only the game but also the operation itself was made in Qatar's favor over Indonesia. "It took me seven minutes to get to the stadium yesterday. But it took me 25 minutes today," Shin said, adding that the team's movement was delayed.

Indonesia, which failed to beat host Qatar in its first match, started the tournament at the bottom of Group A. In the group, the first match between Australia and Jordan ended 0-0.

The match between Korea, China, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will also kick off in earnest from Friday. The Japanese media outlet Gekisaka highlighted Japan's point of view in the match against China, reporting on Shin Tae-yong's "comedy show" remarks. Japan will have its first group match against China at 10 p.m. on the day. Korea will have its first group match against the UAE at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday.