PSSI to dissolve Primavera team<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's junior soccer team, the country's
\ndream team upon which all hopes and best wishes have been piled,
\nmust now stop dreaming.<\/p>\n
The All-Indonesia Football Association (PSSI) has decided to
\ndissolve the team, known as PSSI Primavera. The team earned its
\nItalian name due to their stints in Italy with soccer giant
\nSampdoria and their participation in Italy's youth soccer
\ncompetition, Primavera, Italian for spring.<\/p>\n
\"The decision will take effect as of Aug. 29,\" Soeparjo
\nPontjowinoto, the association's secretary-general, told reporters
\non Thursday.<\/p>\n
He did not elaborate why, but apparently it was due to the
\nteam's 1-0 loss to South Korea in the Olympic Asia Oceania Zone
\nqualifying round match on Tuesday, which blew away the long-
\nawaited chance of earning a berth in the Olympic Games in Atlanta
\nnext year.<\/p>\n
Those who were not with the team from the start, but later
\nincluded and sent to Italy, will be returned to their clubs of
\norigin without transfer fees, Soeparjo said.<\/p>\n
Those who have been with the team from the beginning, but have
\nno contract with any European club, can join the Indonesian
\nLeague's bottom-placed clubs, provided the clubs compensate for
\ntheir training fees, he added.<\/p>\n
The amount of the compensation will be determined in a meeting
\non Sept. 1. \"I think there are clubs which will pay if the amount
\nis, say, only Rp 10 million (US$4,416),\" Soeparjo said. He added
\nthat the association will use the money to send its booters
\nabroad for either training or competition.<\/p>\n
Contracts<\/p>\n
As for seven players who have secured contracts with some
\nSwiss clubs, they can continue playing for their new clubs, on
\nthe condition that they must come home to defend PSSI if they are
\nneeded, Soeparjo said.<\/p>\n
The association's decision to dissolve the team will put an
\nend to the endless debates as to whether or not the PSSI
\nPrimavera training project in Italy, on which billions of rupiah
\nhave been spent, should be continued.<\/p>\n
Soeparjo implied that he disagreed with the project.
\nMonitoring players' development from the age of 15 will be a
\nbetter way of training, he said. He also disagreed with Nirwan
\nBakrie's opinion, who said that the project was necessary because
\njunior league competition in Indonesia does not work well and so,
\nthe need to include them in Italy's junior competitions. Nirwan
\nBakrie is the head of the PSSI Primavera project.<\/p>\n
Soeparjo said that improving junior competitions would pay
\nmore. The top players, who emerge from the competitions, can be
\nsent abroad for further training, he added. But most importantly,
\njunior competitions must work first. This is crucial to the
\ndevelopment of national soccer, he asserted.<\/p>\n
PSSI Primavera players will take on Hong Kong in their last
\npre-Olympic qualifying round match in Hong Kong tomorrow. But
\nwhatever the result, it seems that for them, spring has turned to
\nautumn, if not winter (arf).<\/p>",
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