World Cup reflections

The world's single largest extravaganza -- the 1994 World Cup soccer championship -- is now entering its final matches in the second round and has witnessed some sparkling phenomena worth noting.

The event is being held for the first time in the United States, a country where soccer is a relatively "unknown" sport, and has seen some fine battles performed by teams from the Asian and African countries represented by South Korea and Saudi Arabia, Cameroon and Nigeria.

Asia's hopes of making history in the World Cup were largely fulfilled when Saudi Arabia, playing its debut in the event, was able to advance to the second round after finishing second in the group which included the soccer giants from the Netherlands.

The Saudis scored two wins and one defeat against Holland which put them second behind group leader the Netherlands. Sweden stopped the Saudis in the second round and eliminated the last Asian team in the fray.

For an Asian team to make it to the second round in the World Cup was indeed a great moment in the history of the event, marking the first time that a team from this continent has managed such a feat.

The South Koreans, who played in their third World Cup finals, were knocked out, unable to advance to the second round.

The Koreans -- some whom play in Germany as professional booters -- have also shown some of Asia's better performances when they managed to hold Spain to a 2-2 draw. They even came close to defeating the champion, Germany, in the final group match.

Looking at the splendid performances demonstrated by South Korea and Saudi Arabia in the present World Cup championship, we wonder where Indonesian soccer now stands?

Decades before the Koreans became the powerhouses of soccer in Asia, and even longer before the Saudis -- who poured in petro dollars to try to speak louder in the world of soccer -- Indonesia was rated as the most respected team in the region. They kept their unofficial title until the early 1970s.

PSSI, Indonesia's soccer governing body which controls all soccer activities in the country, was established as early as 1930, many years before South Korea even came into existence. Yet now it seems unable to set up a national team that can speak in Asia. Worse, it cannot even make their voice heard in the smaller, Southeast Asian region.

Many plans have been implemented by PSSI in an effort to reclaim their old title, yet there is still no indication that Indonesia could manage to go hand in hand with either the Koreans or the Saudis.

Indonesia has now sent a number of its junior players to Italy for long-term training programs in that country and they are beginning to show some encouraging results. Perhaps a future generation of booters may regain for Indonesia the billing of being the most respected team in Asia or, with luck, the world.