SEA GAMES GOLD FOR KOLEV

Kolev, who had previously coached the Myanmar national team and who also had a stint as the coach for Indonesia, was named as the replacement for Peter Withe.

With was relieved of his duties as the national coach for Indonesia following the team’s failure to make the semi-finals of the on-going Asean Football Championship.

Among Kolev’s priority would be to make sure that the national Under-23 side – which will be representing Indonesia at the SEA Games in Thailand this year – make significant improvement following their five-month stint in Holland.

“Should I fail at the SEA Games, I will relinquish my position as the national coach of Indonesia without the FA having to ask me to do so,” said Kolev (picture was taken when he was the coach for Myanmar).

The Under-23 team is currently under the tutelage of Bambang Nurdiansyah, Widodo Cahyono Putro and goalkeeper coach Hermansyah and where they will be playing against Ulsan Hyundai Mippo from South Korea this Friday before taking on Persebaya Surabaya two days later.

For the moment, Kolev is only observing the training as well as the matches.

“Bambang already has an existing programme, so for the moment I only want to observe the training without getting directly involved,” added Kolev.

“I will only take charge after these two matches are over.”

At the same time, Kolev said that he is also open to suggestions from anyone especially from the national team’s monitoring committee which is made up of former players like Ronny Pattinsarani, Iswadi Idris dan Risdianto.