The U-22 National Team Trial Was Not Canceled But Was Postponed To March 5 And 7

Head of the Public Information Section (Kabagpenum) of the National Police Public Relations Division Kombes Ahmad Ramadhan (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Head of the Public Information Division (Kabagpenum) of the Public Relations Division of the National Police, Kombes Ahmad Ramadhan, said the U-22 national team trial match was postponed, not canceled because it was related to permits.

To issue this permit, said Ramadhan, it takes a process so that this trial match will be held on March 5 and 7 which will be participated by three teams.

"We conveyed that the match was not canceled but postponed," said Ramadhan at a press conference at the Public Relations Division of the Police Headquarters, Jakarta, Thursday.

Ramadhan explained that the crowd permit letter that was submitted by PSSI to the National Police Headquarters was only received on March 2, even though PSSI wanted the match to be held on March 3 or last Wednesday night.

Ramadhan stated that the National Police needed a process to issue a permit for the crowd.

"The incoming letters need to be processed, the National Police have a mechanism for issuing permits, conducting deeper studies from the security side and so on," said Ramadhan.

Ramadhan said that according to the regulations, a crowd permit must be submitted one week before the activity is carried out.

"We conveyed that it was not canceled, but postponed," said Ramadan.

Regarding the match, Ramadhan stated that the National Police Headquarters coordinated with PSSI and the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Kemenpora) to continue to hold trial matches on March 5, 2021.

The trial match consists of two matches. The first match will be held on Friday and the second match will be held two days later on Sunday 7 March, at the Madya Stadium, Senayan, Jakarta.

This trial match was originally going to be followed by several teams, but in the end, it was followed by three teams.

The first match on March 5 will be between the 2021 SEA Games national team against Persikabo, while the national team match against Bali United two days later is on March 7, with the match time at 19.00 WIB.

"That the match which was initially followed by several teams, was followed by a fun game, but the result of the final coordination between PSSI and National Police Headquarters was followed by three teams, the implementation of two days," said Ramadhan.

PSSI was supposed to arrange a trial match between the U-22 national team against a number of soccer clubs in Indonesia as a preparation for the 2021 SEA Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.