PSSI has eight foreign coach nominees
JAKARTA (JP): The Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) has nominated eight foreign candidates to coach the national team for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, to be held in Kuala Lumpur in September.
PSSI secretary-general Tri Goestoro said on Thursday that the association would select the coach at next week's meeting.
"We have eight candidates to coach the national team. They came from various countries including Slovakia, Yugoslavia, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany," he said.
With the appointment of a foreign coach, the current national coach Benny Dolo will serve as an assistant. Benny is now training the team for the 2002 World Cup qualifying matches.
Tri also said PSSI had yet to select SEA Games squad members, but would include the under-23 players competing in the World Cup qualifier.
There are 13 U-23 players in the national team. Four of them -- Bambang Pamungkas, Gendut Doni Christiawan, Ismed Sofyan and Warsidi -- are familiar faces in the national team.
"We'll invite some other U-23 players, who failed to pass selections for the World Cup squad, into the Games squad," Tri said.
Speaking about the women's team, Tri said PSSI would still stage training for female players before deciding whether to send a team to the Games.
SEA Games regulations do not stipulate an age limit for the women's players, which will make PSSI's task easier, however Tri said PSSI would prefer to skip women's soccer should the team fail to perform well during training.
In a separate development, PSSI has rescheduled a ceremony marking its 71st anniversary from Thursday to Saturday. The ceremony will take place at Bung Karno Indoor Stadium in Senayan, Central Jakarta.
The event will feature the grand final of the McDonald's futsal tournament between Camp 82 and Tunas Patriot soccer schools. Bintaro and Pelita Bakrie soccer schools will compete for 3rd and 4th place.
The futsal tournament, which is the first to be staged here, is participated in by 16 soccer schools in Greater Jakarta.
PSSI will also present donations to 2,500 children living in orphanages in five mayoralties in Jakarta.
It will also honor 12 individuals and institutions who have contributed their services and support to national soccer development.
The individuals include the late Sjarnoebi Said, former PSSI chairman from 1981-1983; the late T.D. Pardede; the late Benny Mulyono; the late Kadir Yusuf, a columnist and reporter at Kompas daily who proposed initiation of the Galatama national soccer league; Prof. Dr. Chaeruddin P. Lubis, rector of Universitas Sumatra Utara in Medan, North Sumatra, who opened the university for national team members without them having to undergo an entry test; and Daniel, an informal assistant to the national team. (ivy)