Indonesian soccer failure

Indonesian soccer failure

From Republika

Usually when Indonesia's national soccer team is sent to take
part in an international competition at a level higher than that
of South East Asia, the coach and the members of the executive
board of the All Indonesia Soccer Association (PSSI) will say
that the national team will only seek experience or that their
opponents are a level or two higher. If these words are repeated
every time our national team goes to a competition abroad, PSSI
should not bother to go to the trouble of organizing the costly
national competition, especially as regards maintaining the
security system and preventing hooliganism during the
competition.

It is now time for the executive board of PSSI to stop making
such statements. Once sent to a competition, the whole team must
aim at one single thing: victory. If later the national team has
to lose a match against a stronger soccer team, do not try to
find excuses (saying, for example, that our footballers are more
slightly built than other players).

Once in a football match, the team must only do their best.
They must remember not to be on the defensive all the time
because victory depends on how good your attack is. Playing
football is not like fighting in a battle in which there is a
risk of losing your life. Rather than playing defensively simply
to avoid goals, it would be better for our players to attack and
attack.

Please discard any quasi-modest and pseudo-wise attitudes as
well as the fear that one will be blamed for the failure of the
national soccer team.

ODIH JUANDA

Karawang, West Java