PSSI announces U-20 nominees
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As many as 51 nominees were announced on Monday for the national U-20 team by the Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI), which says the team will spearhead its campaign to return to international distinction at the Hanoi 2003 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
The preliminary squad was picked from the U-18 Suratin Cup competition, which concluded last October, with the PSSI monitoring team having given priority places to 14 former U-16 members who played in qualifying matches in Nagoya in 1999.
PSSI spokesman Eddi Elison said that the soccer body would add another five representatives from Irian Jaya, the country's easternmost province.
"From those invited, we already have 40 currently undergoing a test at Sawangan soccer ground in South Jakarta," Eddi said on Monday.
The squad is being supervised by newly appointed coach Bernhard Schumm. The German is not new to the Indonesian soccer community, having joined PSSI as its technical director before being hired on a brief partnership basis for the 1999 SEA Games team.
The national team is scheduled to take part in the ASEAN U-20 Championship, which will be co-hosted by Thailand and Laos from Feb. 20 to March 3 next year.
The Indonesian team will also play in the preliminary round of the Asian U-20 Championship. Qatar will host the final round from Oct. 15 to Oct. 31, 2002.
Among the 42 participating countries, Indonesia joins Group 9 with Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines.
Eddi said PSSI is out to make amends for the national soccer team's poor showing at the recent SEA (Southeast Asian) Games, which has cost it a spot in the Indonesian sporting delegation going to the 2002 Asian Games in Pusan, South Korea.
"Our main target is the 2003 SEA Games," Eddi said, signaling that the ASEAN and Asian U-20 meets would only serve as warmup events.
The next SEA Games, the biennial multi-event sport competition among Southeast Asian nations, will be held in Vietnam in 2003.
PSSI also revealed a tournament calendar in the lower age category for next year announced by the AFF (ASEAN Football Federation) and AFC (Asian Football Confederation).
The ASEAN U-17 tournaments, which Indonesia and Malaysia will jointly host, is scheduled to be held from Feb. 17 to 20, while the Asian Championships, in which Indonesia is drawn with Vietnam, China and Taiwan in Group 10, will be held in the United Arab Emirates from Sept. 6 to 22.
The national U-17 team is currently training in Medan, North Sumatra, under coach Jim Bryden from England.