Jacksen Tiago Emphasizes Mental Strengthening for MLSC Women's Footballers

JAKARTA - MilkLife Soccer Challenge (MLSC) head coach Jacksen Ferreira Tiago emphasized the importance of mental strengthening for female footballers trained through MLSC so that they can develop into elite athletes for the future of the Indonesian women's national team.

"Sometimes we think we have to improve the tactics, we have to do this, that, but if my impression in several visits to various places is the strengthening of mental or emotional aspects," Jacksen Ferreira Tiago told the media at the MLSC All-Stars 2026 event in Kudus, Central Java, Saturday.

He explained that the outstanding female football talents began to emerge from various MLSC All-Stars teams. Some of them showed abilities above average that in the future could become the mainstay for the women's national team.

Jacksen mentioned a number of prominent talents such as Ika Wonda, the attacker of the Solo all-stars team, midfielder Sabrina Dwi Ristiyana from the Kudus team, midfielder Rayna Picessa from Tangerang, and defender Hafizah Lubna from the Jakarta team, and several players from other teams.

The next task, he said, is to improve the quality of coaches to be able to help young athletes in the U12 category to be able to develop more.

"If we consistently train them, I think it will be the key to bringing our national team to the world stage," he said.

The former Persipura Jayapura coach explained that since joining the MLSC program and conducting visits to guide the talent of female footballers in various regions, he concluded that the most important aspect of coaching was the mental aspect of young talents.

According to him, strengthening the mental aspect is very important because young talents have different backgrounds. On the other hand, they are female athletes who are emotionally very prominent compared to other things.

The athletes, he said, are looking for a figure who is not only a role model but also a place where they can forget their various conditions. Such a figure, he said, must be able to be played by coaches from MLSC teams.

"These players sometimes they just need words that can make them feel comfortable, calm, and so on," he said.

Jacksen emphasized that physical training is also an important point, but for the age group, the approach to the mental aspect is a very important aspect.