Jakarta. World champion Argentina proved too strong for Indonesia who lost 0-2 in a friendly in Jakarta despite fielding eight naturalized players on Monday evening.

But the celebratory mood was everywhere at the packed Bung Karno Stadium and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo immediately went to the pitch to take pictures with players shortly after the match.

“Thank you Argentina, thank you for coming here,” a TV commentator said during the live broadcast.

It was a very rare moment for the Garuda Team to learn football directly from reigning world champions -- in fact, it’s the first time in history they got such a chance.

The president was satisfied with the result and admitted anxiety during the early stage of the game from the VVIP tribune.

“I was just worried that we would concede so many goals early on,” Jokowi told reporters.

He said the Indonesian Football Association, or PSSI, needs to invite more big teams so that the national team can learn valuable lessons by experience.

Despite only a couple of goals scored, the match was one-sided in nature.

Leandro Paredes opened the lead with a long-range right-footed shot from outside the box in the 38th minute. There was nothing goalkeeper Ernando Ari could do to stop the ball from coming to the top right corner of his goal.

The second goal came ten minutes into the second half, when Cristian Romero’s header from a close range went past Ernando, after a cross from Giovani Lo Celso following a corner.

With 74 percent of ball possession throughout the match, Argentina really dominated the game and it was a superb play from the goalkeeper that prevented Indonesia from conceding more goals.

Ernando made at least four brilliant saves, including during a one-on-one encounter with Facundo Buonanotte in the 29th minute.

The home team had a clear chance to level the score just before the break when Ivar Jenner forced Argentina’s goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to jump to the ground and used his fingertips to deny the ball inches from the goal line.

Indonesia 
Ernando Ari; Jordi Amat, Rizky Ridho, Asnawi Mangkualam, Elkan Baggott; Shayne Pattynama, Marselino Ferdinan, Marc Klok, Ivar Jenner, Dimas Drajad, Rafael Struick

Substitutes: Syahrul Fadil, Rachmat Irianto, Sandy Walsh, Edo Febriansyah, Ricky Kambuaya, Saddil Ramdani, Stefano Lilipaly, Reza Arya, Andy Setyo Nugroho, Fachrudin Aryanto Yakob Sayuri 

Argentina 
Emmanuel Martinez; Cristian Romero Facundo Medina, German Pazzella, Nehuel Molina; Leandro Paredes, Giovani Lo Celso, Facundo Buonanotte, dan Exequiel Palacios; Nicolas Gonzalez, Julian Alvarez

Substittutes: Alexis Mac Allister, Rodrigo De Paul, Leonardo Balerdi, Nicolás Tagliafico, Gerónimo Rulli, Enzo Fernández, Walter Benítez

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