Primavera to go on, PSSI chairman says

Primavera to go on, PSSI chairman says

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's junior soccer team, PSSI Primavera,
will be rejuvenated, not totally dissolved as announced
previously, according to Azwar Anas, chairman of the All-
Indonesia Football Association.

"Due to their age, a number of the players will indeed be sent
home. They will be replaced by younger recruits," Azwar said on
Friday in Surabaya. Azwar, who is also Coordinating Minister for
People's Welfare, made the comment after opening the 10th
Haornas/Coca Cola Cup under-16 soccer tournament in the capital
city of East Java.

Some players, who are as old as the team's star and most
talented striker, Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, will be transferred to
European clubs, which are interested in them, while the remaining
players will be channeled to interested clubs in the Indonesian
League, Azwar added.

By saying this, Azwar rectified an announcement made yesterday
by his secretary-general, Soeparjo Pontjowinoto, that the
association had decided to dissolve the team, which will take
effect as of Aug. 29.

However, Azwar confirmed Soeparjo's statement that clubs which
are interested in using the dismissed players will have to pay to
the association. The money will be used to finance the training
of younger players, Azwar said, declining to mention an amount.

PSSI Primavera is the association's ambitious project of
developing a world-class team, by sending it to Italy for
intensive stints with soccer giant Sampdoria. As part of the
training program, the team is also contested in the Italian
junior competition known as Primavera, by which the team is
popularly known here. The project's short-term objective was to
enable the team to grab a berth in next year's Olympic Games in
Atlanta.

The team, however, fell short of expectations. Being in the
Olympic Asia Oceania Zone, PSSI Primavera succumbed to South
Korea both in its home, and away matches and lost the chance of
gaining the coveted soccer Olympic berth.

In support of Azwar's clarification, Nirwan Bakrie, the man
behind the project, who, despite the team's failure, repeatedly
refused to say that the project was a fiasco, said on Friday that
the second generation of PSSI Primavera, consisting of 20
booters, is now ready to go to Italy to step into the shoes of
their forerunners.

Twelve of those were shortlisted from the National Youth
Games, held last month in Surabaya, while the other eight were
taken from the association's training center.

Nirwan said that as part of preparing them, they are now
competing in the Asia soccer championship in Brunei Darussalam.
"Unlike their predecessors, they are at least 1.70 meters in
height," Nirwan said, stressing that the selection process was
far tougher than before but declining to say who selected them.

Bob Hippy, who heads the association's training division, and
Soeparjo, said that they both were not totally informed of the
new team. (arf)