Indonesian soccer can't move further than SE Asia

By Ivy Susanti

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian soccer community received a nice gift at the end of the second millennium when the national team managed to finish as the runner-up of the 2000 Tiger Cup in Thailand in November.

It is not considered a poor result since the Indonesian team put up a good fight before losing to Southeast Asian superpower Thailand 1-4 in the final.

The successful campaign has boosted the team's morale as it indicates that Indonesia has finished one level below Thailand, which has already gone global by sending its top players to play in the English soccer league.

This success should not however make the soccer fraternity complaisant as the Indonesian team is still far from producing its best performance at the Asian and world level.

In October, Indonesia finished bottom in group B at the Asian Cup in Lebanon and failed to qualify for the quarterfinals. Other group contenders -- China, Kuwait and South Korea -- all cruised to the next round.

Indonesia earned a draw over Kuwait but lost twice to China and Korea in the round-robin matches, sending home the demoralized national team.

Even Thailand was able to force Iran to a 1-1 draw and then repeated this against Lebanon (1-1) despite finishing third in another group.

The Asian Cup was won by Japan which successfully ousted 1996 champions, Saudi Arabia. The Saudis have reached the final four times in a row and have only lost once to Japan in 1992.

PSSI chairman, Agum Gumelar, consoled himself by saying that the poor result in the Asian Cup was not dissatisfying as the main target for the national squad was to reach the Tiger Cup final.

As for the year 2001, Agum still insists that Indonesia must be a finalist in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

"We are one level below Thailand, we must acknowledge that. We have to dominate the Southeast Asia level first before we can star at the Asian level championships and then the world."

However, he refused to set a long-term goal for the national soccer team.

"We have to move step by step and we can't use mathematics to measure our achievement", he said.

National team

The national Tiger Cup team did not have anything extraordinary except for seven of its 18 players were from the 2000 Indonesian soccer league champion PSM Makassar. The players selection was also sparked with controversy.

PSM top striker Miro Baldo Bento, for example, has been under criticism following the East-Timorese born player's statement saying that he preferred to play for his new country's squad.

Miro later revised his statement, saying he was too carried away with his country's euphoria after earning its independence from Indonesia. He also said that he wanted to continuing playing in Indonesia as it would help him to develop East Timor soccer when he return to his country.

The Tiger Cup event was also marred with the dismissal of national team coach Nandar Iskandar after the Indonesian team lost 1-4 to Thailand in the preliminaries.

National team director Muhammad Zein denied he dismissed Nandar because it was the PSSI chairman's authority, not his.

He said Nandar failed to help players to play without pressure which led to the team's loss. Therefore, he asked Nandar to pretend to be sick and finally asked him to take a rest until the Cup was over.

The dismissal sparked controversy in Jakarta, and when the scandal reached its peak, PSSI official in charge of athletes development Nurdin Halid, who is also PSM patron, bowed under pressure and decided to resign.

The reason for Nurdin to step down was to free himself and his family from the media attacks over his alleged interference into the national team technical affairs during the overseas campaign.

Junior development

After so many casualties and scandals, PSSI should review its training program starting from the junior level. In November, Ronny Pattinasarany, who is now PSSI's director for junior soccer development, said the association would focus more on the under 13-years old training and competition next year.

At 13, he asserted, children start to develop consistency in plays. He also pledged that PSSI's 2001 agenda would be to list a junior competition.

"We want to have a regular tournament but that requires hard work," he said, adding that tournament organizers still relied on sponsorships.

PSSI's agenda includes creating a standard curriculum for soccer schools and producing qualified coaches to train the youths.

Currently the association is facing difficulties in recruiting high skilled players. Should it be successful in setting up a national team, the public would assume that the move was based more on preferences and not on the players' individual skills.

PSSI has been blamed for neglecting the development of junior players. It only stages under-16 and under-19 competitions but there are none to gauge the development of players in the under- 14 and above 19-year age brackets before they move in to a senior team.

Young players who entered a senior team will also encounter a dilemma. During their career there will be times when it will be difficult to earn a living as a soccer player.

Nowadays, only the most skillful and consistent players who reach the top of the sport can earn millions of rupiah from a transfer deal.

But in many cases, the selection of a player into a club or even to the national team is greatly determined by the club owners or by the self-interest of sponsors. The coach also has little authority to choose a team member and as such has a very difficult job in putting together a good team.

The annual Indonesian soccer league will also serve as a showcase for the mature and skillful players before recruitment into clubs or national team.

Players transfer

In its sixth year of existence, the Indonesian soccer league is still facing player transfer problems, even though the PSSI has drafted a new regulation for the transfer system which will take effect in 2001 league.

The new regulation clearly defines the independent status of players at the end of their contract, so that they may choose their own clubs and there should also be no dispute between clubs.

As of December, Persija and Persijatim were still arguing about which club would get Persijatim's young striker Gendut Doni Christiawan, the hero in Indonesia's 3-2 victory over Vietnam in the Tiger Cup's semifinals.

Also Persebaya Surabaya and PSM are struggling to get winger Uston Nawawi, also a national team member, although the player has agreed to join PSM.

Further problems regarding the transfer value, the contract deal and the player's salary have added to the load of the Indonesian soccer league. Some players from the top clubs and even foreigners who play for a local club have been spotted playing in the inter-village competition. When asked why they claimed they needed to earn money during the off-season.

It is time for PSSI, who will be 71 years old in 2001, to reflect on itself and make changes if it still wants to improve its performance in the international soccer community.