The Southeast Asians were made to dig deep against a side making its first appearance at the tournament for 44 years, with goals from Witan Sulaeman – his second of the game – and Egy Maulana Vikri eventually ensuring a 3-1 win for the hosts despite Chinese Taipei drawing level at one point.

“It was a great victory and I want to thank my players for their endless effort until the very last minute,” declared Sjafri.

“Our opponents played with a compact defence which certainly caused us some issues in the first half, but thanks to a change in tactics after the break we managed to reduce the pressure on ourselves somewhat by attacking more from the flanks.

The 18-year-old's (pictured above, right) brace proved crucial for Indra Sjafri's side. His first goal, a close-range headed effort, gave them a 2-1 lead in 70th minute over the well-organised visitors, before his second effectively killed off the tie if the dying minutes.

The winger also supplied the cross for Egy Maulana Vikri's 50th minute opener to seal a superb performance and send the 17,000-strong crowd at Jakarta's Gelora Bung Karno Stadium home happy.

The victory handed the Southeast Asians an ideal start to the competition against a side they had, for long periods, struggled to break down at Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

The result sees Indra Sjafri’s charges go top of the Group A table ahead of the United Arab Emirates who beat Qatar 2-1 earlier in the day.

Goals from Ahmad Fawzi and the impressive Ali Saleh provided a welcome start to the UAE’s campaign in Group A, one which sees them occupying second spot behind hosts Indonesia who beat Chinese Taipei 3-1 to assume pole position.

Although not entirely happy with every aspect of the display against their regional rivals, Balleti believes there were enough positives to underline the potential that exists within the Emirati squad.

The talented 18-year-old produced a deft assist and a superb goal to hand his side the perfect start to their Group A campaign with games against Chinese Taipei and host nation Indonesia still to come for head coach Ludovic Batelli’s charges.

After a bright start in sultry conditions, Qatar fashioned the first chance of the game, midfielder Abdollah Ali fizzing a shot narrowly wide of the target with four minutes played.

The East Asians, who were crowned champions in 2016 after beating Saudi Arabia on penalties in Bahrain, begin the defence of their continental crown against regional rivals DPR Korea on Friday at the Pakansari Stadium in Bogor.

With Thailand and Iraq also competing for honours in Group B, and four places at next year’s FIFA U-20 World Cup on offer to the competition’s semi-finalists, Kageyama was understandably quick to strike a cautious note ahead of his side’s opener.

The Continental championship has ended in group stage disappointment for the Young Socceroos in the previous two editions, and Milicic, 44, said his young charges will need to begin positively if they are to succeed in Indonesia.

"We're fully aware that every game will be difficult, and we really have to focus on ourselves and be at our best to get out of this group," the former striker said ahead of the fixture at Bekasi's Patriot Chandrabhaga Stadium.

"All three are strong nations. I have a history with Korea Republic and Vietnam as head coach of the Under-23s in China PR in January and they were very strong teams.

"Jordan I also know well from my time with the Socceroos when we lost there in Amman, 0-2, so all three teams are extremely strong opponents."