JAKARTA (20 May 2012) – Whatever happens at the Al-Nakbah Football Championship in Palestine this week Djohar Arifin Husin, the president of the FA of Indonesia (PSSI) has reminded his team to keep their mind focussed on the bigger picture which is the AFF Suzuki Cup 2012.
The 9th edition of the hugely popular AFF Championship, which is known as the AFF Suzuki Cup since 2008, will be held in November and December 2012 in two cities in Malaysia and Thailand.
Djohar said that the AL-Nakbah tournament is not the ultimate target for the newly-assembled Indonesia national team where it is just one the several programmes that the PSSI have put in place to give the players more playing time.
“Definitely, the Al-Nakbah tournament is not a target for the national team. The projection for this team is the AFF Suzuki Cup at the end of the year in Malaysia and Thailand,” said Djohar.
“I hope that from this championship in Palestine, the players will use it to toughen their mental strength to be more competitive as a unit.”
The Indonesia team has booked their place in the semi-finals of the Al-Nakbah Football Championship after winning their first match in Group B with a 2-0 win over Mauritania.
Goals from Hendra Bayauw in the 20th minute and Novan Setya five minutes later sealed the three points for the Merah-Putih. In their second game in the group, Indonesia held the more experienced Iraqi Kurdistan to a 1-1 draw to finish as runners-up and qualify for the next round of the meet.
