PSSI vows to dominate SE Asian soccer
JAKARTA (JP): The All Indonesian Soccer Federation (PSSI) has taken into account it's pre-Olympic loss announcing it will focus on dominating Southeast Asian soccer, rather than the whole Asia arena.
PSSI chairman Agum Gumelar said on Tuesday evening the federation must start to focus on the gold medal in the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam in August.
Indonesia failed to qualify for the pre-Olympics after losing 0-7 to South Korea in a do-or-die match of the Group Eight qualifying round in Seoul last week.
"Considering the result, I realize where our soccer team belongs in the world. The last board of executives vowed to bring our soccer onto the world arena, but I told current officials we could not make a big jump directly."
"First, we must gain supremacy in Southeast Asia before dominating in Asia. Then we can move into the world arena," Agum said in an evaluation of the national team's performance with PSSI officials.
Agum apologized for the loss -- considered by local soccer fans as humiliating -- because the team, consisting of under 23- year-olds from various clubs, was unable to counterattack and kick a single goal.
Indonesia won 2-1 against Chinese Taipei and 2-1 against Sri Lanka, before being overwhelmed by South Korea.
"It's a bitter reality we all must accept. Now we can judge ourselves. We fail to speak in Asia, although we are invincible in Southeast Asia. To move up, we must work harder and learn from our loss," said the three-star general.
However, Indonesia will face tough challenges from the 1997 SEA Games soccer champion Thailand, the 1998 Tiger Cup champion Singapore and dark horse Vietnam in the Games.
Agum said he had studied coach Bernhard Schumm's report, which reported that the defeat was probably caused by an incorrect strategy.
"I think no coach ever wants his team to lose. If Schumm really did that, he is really a big crook. I know he made every effort, but the Koreans' performance in the field smashed all our original estimations. They are world class players and we are two levels below.
"I earlier thought that both Indonesia and South Korea were of equal class, so the victory would depend on which team had the strongest motivation. Apparently my assessment was wrong," said Agum, who is also the governor of the National Resilience Institute.
He dismissed calls from local coaches and soccer observers to fire Schumm from his position as national team coach following the failure. He said PSSI would need more time to find a new coach who could be accepted by players with only two months to go before the Games.
"We have limited time. I have examined Schumm's performance and I believe there are no problems in the coach-player relationships. If we change the coach, he would be scapegoat if our team failed at the Games." (ivy)