JAKARTA (16 June 2011) – Indonesia will not be making wholesale changes to the side which will carry the country’s challenge for the first qualifying round of the 2014 World Cup where they have decided to keep faith with the majority of players that played at the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010.
Indonesia will take on Turkmenistan in their first match of the World Cup qualifiers on 24 July.
“We will call 25 players fo the centralised training camp which wll be held in mid July,” said Iman Arif from the National Team Management (BTN).
“We will not be making a lot of changes where we have decided to maintain 75% of the players that played at the last AFF Suzuki Cup. But we will still have to wait for the outcome of the PSSI Congress (9 July 2011) for the final decision.
“Four players who will not make the squad are Yongky Ariwibowo, Kurnia Meiga, Okto maniani and Irfan Bachdim as they have been roped in for the SEA Games team.”
Among the players that Riedl may be counting on are Markus Harris Maulana, Ferry Rotinsulu, Benny Wahyudi, Firman Utina, Ahmad Bustomi, M. Ridwan, Bambang Pamungkas and Cristian Gonzales.
Iman also explained that the team is also awaiting the passports of three foreign-based players and they are Stefano Lilipaly, Jhonny van Beukering and Serginho van Dijk.
“Initially, we planned three friendly matches for the national team – Singapore (8 July) and two games against Thailand (6 and 13 July 2011). But with the Congress to be held on 9 July, we have had to sacrificed these games,” added Iman.
PIX: Firman Utina
