The Great Withe Hope comes to rescue of Indonesian soccer

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Tiger Cup has yet to wrap up, but the Indonesian soccer team's high flying run in the group stage in early December has redeemed an otherwise mediocre 2004 campaign, which also saw a leadership crisis at the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI).

Drawn with host nation Vietnam, along with Singapore, Laos and Cambodia; Indonesia, under the guidance of Englishman Peter Withe, finished atop Group A with three wins and a draw, scoring 17 goals and allowing exactly zero goals!

After 6-0 and 8-0 maulings of Laos and Cambodia, respectively, which had been expected, a 3-0 win over Vietnam surprised many.

That win left Vietnam out of the semifinals, leaving Singapore, which held Indonesia to a 0-0 draw, as the number two team in the group.

Group B, which was played in Kuala Lumpur, ended with unheralded Myanmar and Malaysia going through, much to the chagrin of favored Thailand.

Indonesia is set to play Malaysia and Singapore will take on Myanmar in the home-and-away semifinals, with the first leg scheduled for Dec. 28.

The Tiger Cup is the biennial premier soccer championship among 11 Southeast Asian nations, which began in 1996.

Indonesia's impressive march in the Tiger Cup was a far cry from their Asian Cup performance in China, but there were a few bright spots seen even then.

They scored their first win in their third qualification match in the quadrennial tournament when they stunned Qatar 2-1, but overall it turned out to be a disappointing performance by the team, then being coached by Bulgarian Ivan Kolev.

The team suffered a crushing 5-0 defeat to China and lost 3-1 to Bahrain to finish in third place in their group. Japan eventually went on to retain the trophy after defeating China 3-1 in the final.

The failure to advance to the next stage led to the departure of Kolev, who then moved to Myanmar.

His departure left the coaching job to Withe, who was, at the time, focused on taking charge of the Under-20 team. He was snapped up earlier in the year by PSSI after he successfully steered Thailand to the Tiger Cup championship twice (2000 and 2002).

Although he was officially employed by PSSI in March, it was not until Kolev's departure in August that Withe assumed control of the national team.

In their final three matches of their 2006 World Cup Asian qualifying campaign during the first set of group games, Indonesia booked a 3-1 win over Turkmenistan, a 2-2 draw with Sri Lanka and 3-1 loss to Saudi Arabia.

Overall, Indonesia scored two wins, a draw, and three losses to finish in third in their 4-team group behind unbeatable Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan. Only the Saudis qualified for the next qualifying round to determine the Asian representatives in Germany in 2006.

Indonesia's under-20 team also had a tough time at the U-20 Asian Cup held in Kuala Lumpur in September and October.

Indonesia's young players lost 1-0 to Qatar, 5-1 to China, and 6-2 to Iran.

However, the tournament saw the rise of the very talented Boas Salossa, who scored two of Indonesia's three goals. The 18-year- old was then called up to the national team for the Tiger Cup and his remarkable speed down the flanks was one reason they finished atop their group.

In club competition, Indonesia's representatives Persik Kediri and PSM Makassar found the Asian Champions League a bit too hot to handle.

League champion Persik fell to an ignominious 15-0 defeat to eventual runner-up Seongnam Chunma of South Korea to finish in third place in the four-team Group G, while PSM finished last in Group F.

The Tiger Cup aside, Indonesia has been struggling to find a successful formula, since it last won a major soccer competition -- the 1991 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Manila.

Back in 1986, Indonesia was able to advance to the semifinals of the Asian Games in Korea, a feat that has not been matched since. Even qualifying for the Asian Games has now become a distant dream for Indonesian players today.

In the Southeast Asian region, the team has played second fiddle to Thailand for many years.

The poor results have been attributed to a complex series of problems on and off the field.

On the field, the players had poor skills, weak endurance, a lack of confidence and virtually no team work.

When Withe first watched a training session for the U-20 national team, the first thing he noted was that Indonesian players had a "poor mentality".

He said that the players lacked the confidence to explore their individual skills, therefore their talents had not developed at an optimum pace.

This resulted in poor teamwork and the absence of ideas to win matches, he added.

He also said the physical fitness of the players remained at too low a level for proper soccer, and implored them to get fit.

With those tough challenges, Withe indeed has his work cut out for him if he intends to bring success.

While Withe has formidable tasks to deal with during his four- year contract term here, PSSI was overshadowed by leadership problems.

PSSI chairman Nurdin Halid, who took the reins in 2003, was rarely able to make time to focus on his duties with him being detained in police custody for his alleged involvement in corruption.

Whoever leads PSSI, he will have to deal with persistent, stressful issues including subpar refereeing and unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of many players, both of which have triggered violent incidents on the field.

Clashes flared up between players of Persija Jakarta and Persita Tangerang at the beginning of the season, which led to the suspension and/or fine of a number of players.

Problems of unruly supporters, player transfers and a reluctance on the part of clubs to release their players for the national team, are among the other issues that still need to be tackled.

Nevertheless, the hiring of The Great Withe Hope seems to have mitigated some of the problems, particularly for the players under his tutelage.