Waiting For Shin Tae-yong Who Never Returned

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team coach, Shin Tae-yong, has provided the latest roadmap to the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI). The coach from South Korea is expected to arrive in the country soon to run the new national team program.

PSSI Chairman Mochamad Iriawan said the coach was expected to return to Indonesia in the second week of July. However, to this day, there is no sign that Shin will fly to Indonesia from his home country.

There was a concern that the coach would not return to Indonesia and hoped to continue with the training camp (TC) in Korea. The reason is, in the latest roadmap submitted to PSSI, Shin scheduled the U-19 Indonesian national team to arrive in Gingseng Country on July 14 and will undergo quarantine until July 27, 2020.

Of course, it would be very tight if Shin had to go to Indonesia in the second week of July and returned to Korea with the U-19 national team squad on July 13. There is a possibility that Shin chose to wait in Korea for the arrival of the Garuda Muda squad.

So what if the coach does not arrive in Indonesia according to the time limit? The PSSI Ketum did not seem to have thought about imposing sanctions or even acting until the termination of the work contract. To reporters, Iriawan still expressed his belief that Shin would return to Indonesia.

"I am sure Shin Tae-yong will return to Indonesia to train," said the man who is familiarly called Iwan Bule to a number of media.

Of course, with Shin not coming to Indonesia yet, preparations for the national team for the U-20 World Cup are increasingly tight. The top 16 target set by President Joko Widodo could be even more difficult to achieve.

As is known, Shin and other Indonesian national team coaches are in Korea. They left Indonesia on April 4 after the worsening of the COVID-19 cases in the country.

On several occasions, the former coach of the South Korean national team has revealed the reasons why he is reluctant to return to Indonesia in the near future. He referred to positive cases of COVID-19 in Indonesia which continued to increase. In fact, in a day there are thousands of confirmed positive cases.