The US Football Social Media Account Shares Information That Paes's Maarten Will Be Part Of The Indonesian National Team

Maarten Paes is included in the naturalization list (Instagram/@maartenpaes).

JAKARTA - A United States football social media account provides information about Maarten Paes who will be part of the Indonesian national team.

The statement was revealed by the @ussoccerplus account on Instagram. In an upload quoted on Thursday, January 4, 2024, the account said Paes would soon receive Indonesian citizenship and become a pillar of the Indonesian national team.

Please note that Maarten Paes is currently a goalkeeper who is still defending FC Dalas club. The club is one of the teams in the United States football league or Major League Soccer (MLS).

In his upload, the account states that Paes is indeed too late to defend the Indonesian national team in the nearest tournament, the 2023 Asian Cup. However, it is open to the goalkeeper to join at the next opportunity.

"It's too late for the Asian Cup in January 2024, but Paes may be able to play in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers in March 2024," wrote the US Soccer Plus.

The same account also states that Paes' presence will make a significant contribution to the performance of the Indonesian national team.

This was revealed by the account based on a tweet from an X account owner named @anthonykyaw who did have an interest in football, especially the United States and Spain.

In his tweet, Anthony said Paes had a rescue percentage of 76.4 percent or the highest in MLS.

In addition, Anthony's writing which was later rewritten by US Soccer Plus also mentioned Indonesia's incessantness in the recent process of naturalizing players.

"Paes is one of the Dutch-born players with Indonesian descent and turned to play for Indonesia."

"Indonesia is aggressively recruiting eligible players to play for them, as well as investing heavily in their coaching system," wrote Anthony.

Previously, in mid-December 2023, PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir also mentioned that Maarten Paes was one of the players targeted to undergo the naturalization process.

"Then, we are also still waiting for Thom Haye, he is a defensive midfielder. He also seems to want (naturalized) with Maarten Paes, the main goalkeeper at FC Dallas, Major League Soccer," Erick Thohir wrote in his upload some time ago.