PSSI to appoint national team coach next week

JAKARTA (JP): The Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) will appoint the national team's coach and officials for the 2002 World Cup prequalifying round and the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian (SEA) Games next week.

PSSI chairman Agum Gumelar said on Friday that the coach would select his team members based on a review by the association's group of talent scouts.

"The first thing to do is to select the coach and other officials including the assistant coach and team manager. We'll do it at a meeting next week. The coach will select his players afterwards, based on the review from our group of talent scouts."

He also said that he preferred hiring a foreign coach to groom the national team rather than a local one.

"In my opinion, foreign and local coaches will perform the same task but a foreign coach will have a proven track record and better qualifications than his Indonesian counterpart," he said.

Although Agum refused to name any possible contenders, a source at PSSI said that the favored foreign candidates for the national team were Henk Wullems of the Netherlands, technical coach for the 2000 Bank Mandiri national league champion PSM Makassar, and Sergei Dubrovich of Moldova, who coached the league's runner-up PKT of Bontang, East Samarinda.

The source, who requested anonymity, also said that PSSI offers a maximum US$10,000 monthly allowance to a foreign coach.

Should a foreign coach be appointed to the national team, he would be assisted by a local coach.

"The assistant coach must be a local who has enough potential to be a head coach in the future," Agum said.

He also said that PSSI would groom under-16 soccer players at a special training center in Medan, North Sumatra.

"The players are being prepared for long-term goals," he said without elaborating. (ivy)