Winning the gold medal in men’s football at the SEA Games would unite the whole nation, so said Rahmad Darmawan, the chief coach of the Indonesia national Under-23 team ahead of their challenge next month.
“In the midst of internal conflict, where our national soccer has been torn apart, we have a mission – Bring peace and unity,” said Rahmad this week.
“Hopefully by performing well, we can bring back the unity. Therefore, we need to build a positive image in order to help build the athletes’ sense of nationalism at the SEA Games. We have to support them.”
The gold medal in men’s football is the single most important medal at the biennial championship where just the previous week, private entrepreneurs in Vietnam have offered upwards of USD 1 million for the right to be crowned the best U23 football team in the region.
Thailand’s Olympic Council has announced that enroute to the kingdom’s aspiration to be crowned the overall winners of the 26th edition of the SEA Games; the football team has been tasked with regaining the gold they lost to Malaysia two years ago in Laos.
The Thais are the undisputed kings of SEA Games football since the inaugural meet in 1959 having won the title for a record 13 times – compared to Malaysia’s and Myanmar’s haul of five each.
Thailand scored a record when they won the gold medal for a record eight times since 1993 before they were stopped in 2009 by a resurgent Malaysia.
But this time round, Indonesia will be hoping that they can utilise home advantage for them to win their first gold medal since 1991 in Manila.
Their only other gold medal outing was back in 1987 when they were the hosts – a thought not lost on Rahmad as he look to mould what is perhaps the best Indonesia U23 squad in recent years.
Rahmad said that his players has been working hard in centralised training for the past three months where other than holding the Indonesia senior team to a 1-1 draw recently, they had also beaten the Timor Leste U23 squad to a 5-0 thrashing.
But whether that will be enough remained to be seen considering Indonesia have been placed in what is considered as the ‘Group of Death’.
They are in Group A against defending champions Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia where they will open their campaign on 7 November 2011.
The easier Group B are Vietnam, Timor Leste, Laos, Brunei, Myanmar and the Philippines with the first game to be played on 3 November 2011.
If we are ready, nothing is difficult. This is not about easy or hard. It is about taking a stance and dealing with it,” added Rahmad.
In the meantime Yongki Aribowo, the captain of the Indonesia U23 squad added that the players are continuing to improve their combination play.
“If there’s any area at all which we need to work on, it would be our communication skills in order to improve,” added Yongki.
The 21-year-old striker said that he hopes Indonesians would do their utmost to support not only the football team but also the rest of the national athletes at the Games.
“Supporters are important. When we get exhausted, their cheering is like a second wind, it can boost our morale significantly,” he added.
26th SEA GAMES
Group A fixtures
| DATE | MATCH | GROUP | KICK OFF | VENUE | ||
|
07.11.2011 |
SINGAPORE | vs | MALAYSIA |
A |
1600 hrs |
GELORA BUNG KARNO |
| INDONESIA | vs | CAMBODIA | 1900 hrs | |||
| 08.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
|
09.11.2011 |
MALAYSIA | vs | THAILAND |
A |
1600 hrs |
GELORA BUNG KARNO |
| CAMBODIA | vs | SINGAPORE | 1900 hrs | |||
| 10.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
|
11.11.2011 |
SINGAPORE | vs | INDONESIA |
A |
1400 hrs |
GELORA BUNG KARNO |
| THAILAND | vs | CAMBODIA | 1700 hrs | |||
| 12-11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
|
13.11.2011 |
MALAYSIA | vs | CAMBODIA |
A |
1600 hrs |
GELORA BUNG KARNO |
| INDONESIA | vs | THAILAND | 1900 hrs | |||
| 14.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
| 15.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
| 16.11.2011 | REST DAY | |||||
|
17.11.2011 |
THAILAND | vs | SINGAPORE |
A |
1600 hrs |
GELORA BUNG KARNO |
| INDONESIA | vs | MALAYSIA | 1900 hrs | |||
