PADANG - Indonesia’s U-19 national team began their campaign in the 2026 AFF U-19 Championship with an impressive start.
Facing Myanmar in their opening Group A match at the North Sumatra Main Stadium on Monday evening (1 June 2026), the young Garuda squad secured a dominant 3-0 victory.
Behind this convincing win, all eyes were on Persib Bandung’s promising midfield general, Nazriel Alfaro Syahdan.
The player, affectionately called Alfaro, was trusted by head coach Nova Arianto to start in the line-up, anchoring the midfield and orchestrating the team’s tempo throughout the match.
The full confidence given by Indonesia U-19 head coach Nova Arianto was repaid in full by Nazriel on the pitch.
Playing calmly and confidently as a defensive midfielder, he succeeded in breaking up the opponents’ passing flow and became the key transition point for Garuda Muda’s attacking movements.
Before the match, Nazriel had mentioned that the team’s chemistry under Nova Arianto had reached its best level after a disciplined preparation program.
“Our preparation has gone really well. The three-week training camp in Yogyakarta made the team much more cohesive and confident to perform at our best in this AFF tournament,” said Nazriel Alfaro.
For fans of Indonesian football, the rise of this 1.74-metre-tall midfielder comes as no surprise.
Nazriel’s name began to draw attention when he became an irreplaceable pillar for Indonesia’s U-17 squad during the U-17 World Cup in Qatar at the end of 2025.
His maturity at the international level also caught the attention of Persib Bandung’s head coach, Bojan Hodak, who handed him a sensational senior team debut in the top-tier competition in December 2025.
Although he played only 10 minutes towards the end of the match, Nazriel earned praise from Persib supporters, known as Bobotoh, for his composure and ability to match the rhythm of his midfield partner, the European-level midfielder Thom Haye.
Nazriel is a homegrown talent nurtured through Persib Bandung’s structured youth development system.
His football journey has progressed steadily through various youth competitions:
With a long-term contract and growing consistency in playing time at both club and national levels, Nazriel Alfaro is projected to become a valuable long-term asset and a key successor in the midfield for both Persib Bandung and Indonesia’s national team.
