JAKARTA (20 March 2013) – Rahmad Darmawan is back with the Indonesia national team. The former Indonesia Under-23 team will be handling the senior squad for their second game in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia this Saturday at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
He will be ably assisted by Jacksen Tiago, the coach of Persipura Jayapura.
With the appointment of Rahmad and Jackson, it has put a big question mark on the role of recently appointed chief coach Luis Manuel Blanco from Argentina.
“Both Rahmad and Jacksen have decided to take up these positions without having negotiated for contract or salaries. In the spirit of unification, they have decided to come into the national team,” said Harbiansyah, the spokesman of the Indonesia National Team Management.
In the meantime, Rahmad has trimmed the 58 players initallly called for national training to 28. The list will then be trimmed to just 23 players a day before the team managers’ meeting.
“We chose these players based on their ability considering the short period of time that we have to prepare for this game against Saudi Arabia,” added Rahmad.
INDONESIA NATIONAL TEAM – LIST of 28 PLAYERS
Kurnia Meiga, I Made Wirawan, Samsidar, Hamka Hamzah, M.Roby, Victor Igbonefo, Abdul Rahman, Zulkifli Syukur, Ricardo Salampessy, Supardi, Ruben Sanadi, Tony Sucipto, Immanuel Wanggai, Ponaryo Astaman, Ahmad Bustomi, Raphael Maitimo, M. Taufiq, M. Ridwan, Andik Vermansah, Greg Nwokolo, Boaz Solossa, Firman Utina, Ferinando Pahabol, Irfan Bachdim, Zulham Zamrun, Ian Louis Kabes, Sergio van Dijk, Titus Bonai.
