Indonesia's U-12 team to join French meet
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia will take part in the world U-12 soccer tournament in France in May, with the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) hoping to use the event to build momentum for its drive to improve youth soccer development in the country.
"This is a good opportunity for us to begin identifying young soccer players who are still unknown to PSSI," Ronny Pattinasarani, who heads team selection, said here on Thursday.
The process of selecting the team that will travel to France will take place through a qualifying tournament to be held in 12 cities and towns beginning next week, with the final to be held on April 18 and April 19 in Jakarta.
Teams in the U-12 competition will put nine players on the field at once, instead of the regular 11. This means each team must include 12 players.
Games will be two halves of 20 minutes each, on a field half the size of a normal soccer pitch, with the size of the ball and goals changed accordingly.
The tournament will begin with matches in Jakarta, Bandung and Bogor on March 22 and March 23. Medan, Padang and Yogyakarta will then host games on March 29 and March 30, followed by Semarang, Surabaya and Denpasar on April 5 and April 6. Malang, Makassar and Banjarmasin will then play host to matches on April 12 and April 13.
Ronny, who is also the PSSI official in charge of talent scouting, said the competition would be limited to 32 teams, which will be drawn from soccer schools.
Ronny warned that strict punishments awaited any rules violations, particularly when it came to the ages of the players.
"If a player is found to have a false birth certificate, that will mean disqualification for the team and suspension for the coach," he said.
"Only the winners from each of the 12 qualifying venues will advance to the final in Jakarta," Ronny said.
The 12 players from the winning team, joined by four other players selected from losing teams, will go to the World's Danone U-12 Tournament in France from May 31 to June 1.
The Indonesian team will represent Asia along with South Korea and a team from the Gulf region.
Ronny did not say how many teams would take part in the competition in France.