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