Indonesian soccer can't move further than SE Asia

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.