REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The General Chairman of the All-Indonesia Football Association (PSSI) said PSSI continues to build early age competitions to create teams that can perform consistently like the Japanese run.
“We are proud that the U-17 team, the U-20 team, the U-23 team and the senior team can enter the Asian Cup. But this is not enough, PSSI continues to build an early age competition for the national team to continue to perform consistently,” wrote Erick Thohir as quoted from his personal Instagram account @erickthohir in Jakarta, Sunday (17/11/2024).
He expressed this in his conversation with one of the legends of Japanese football Yuto Nagatomo after the match of Indonesia vs. Japan in the advance match of the third round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifier at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta.
Erick, who uploaded a photo of himself with Yuto, explained that the Japanese defender was one of the best Asian players in Italy and played for Inter Milan, which he managed at the time. He knows Yuto as a player who always works hard, is consistent, and disciplined in keeping fit.
To Yuto, Erick said that the Japanese team could be solid and ranked 15th in FIFA because of its early team building and competition.
PSSI is also committed to doing something similar: building early age competitions to produce outstanding national players as Japan has done.
Earlier, PSSI through executive committee member Arya Sinulingga posited that coaching young age footballers in the country is not to be missed for all categories of national teams.
He explained that naturalization of players to strengthen the current national team for short to medium term purposes because it takes as many as 150 national players for all age categories.
The needs of those players, he said, must be met by remaining attentive to the quality or capacity of the player and simultaneously. Early age competition also continues to be a priority for PSSI to produce top talent for the national team in the long term.
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