Patrick Kluivert: I'm A People Who Like Pressure

Indonesian national team coach Patrick Kluivert (Between)

JAKARTA - Indonesian national team coach Patrick Kluivert said he was a person who liked pressure when he was touched on how he faced high pressure from Indonesian fans to bring the Garuda team to the 2026 World Cup.

Kluivert came to Indonesia after Shin Tae-yong built the Indonesian national team for five years. Under Shin's tutelage, Indonesia advanced to the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, occupying third place with six points from six matches.

With the remaining four matches to be played, Indonesia's chances of qualifying for the World Cup live or through the fourth round are still wide open.

"I'm a person who likes pressure," Kluiver said at his introductory session at the Mulia Hotel, Jakarta, Sunday.

"This is football," he continued.

When asked what he would do in the near future, he emphasized that there was no other choice but to have a direct impact in the form of victory. According to him, the remaining four matches must be won. In other sense, four matches, four finals.

"The first part is the impact and results," he said.

Kluivert is the best Dutch striker to ever strengthen a number of top European clubs such as Ajax Amsterdam, AC Milan, Barcelona, CF Valencia, Newcastle United, PSV and Lille.

After retiring as a player in 2008 with 206 goals and becoming the fourth all-time top scorer in the Dutch national team, the man born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on July 1, 1976, immediately started his career as a coach. He started as assistant coach at AZ Alkmaar, NEC Nijmegen, Brisbane Roar. He later became coach Jong Twente and won the title.

Kluivert was also assistant coach of Louis van Gaal in the Dutch national team which was ranked third at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In 2015, Kluivert was appointed head coach of the Curacao national team for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and the 2017 Caribbean Cup qualifiers.

Another experience after retiring included serving as sporting director at Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona's academy, coaching the Ajax A1 (U-19) team and becominganitoko Seedorf in Cameroon's national team.