Despite these successes, the past problems started to reappear. Indonesia's main domestic league, Liga 1, has been criticized for its complex and unfancy schedule that squeeze out players' energy, but PSSI had refused to address about the issue. Subsequently, the U-23 team suffered a humiliating setback when Indonesia failed to reach the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship, falling behind Vietnam and Thailand. Meanwhile, Luis Milla, surprisingly departed without any explanations, causing angers among Indonesian supporters. The senior side even suffered more humiliation, with Indonesia crashed out from the group stage in 2018 AFF Championship, led to the sacking of Bima Sakti. In order to prepare for the 2022 World Cup campaign, Indonesia has reluctantly signed Simon McMenemy, with hope that his successful tenure with the Philippines could reinvigorate Indonesia's performance especially when Indonesia was grouped with three Southeast Asian rivals, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam alongside the UAE. Yet, the 2022 World Cup qualification under McMenemy was a serious disaster, as Indonesia lost all four matches, two losses were exclusively humiliating: a 2–3 home defeat to Malaysia despite having taken a 2–1 lead prior, followed by a home loss to Vietnam for the first time ever in any competitive tournaments, leading to frustration among Indonesian supporters. On 6 November 2019, PSSI decided to sack McMenemy over the national team's deteriorating performance, shortly after Indonesia was awarded hosting rights for the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup. With the team in turmoil, the Indonesians traveled to Malaysia, where they lost to its rival 0–2 away and was officially eliminated from 2022 FIFA World Cup.