Maarten Paes Promises To Help The Indonesian National Team Achieve Achieve Achievements

Maarten Paes has joined the training of the Indonesian national team in Saudi Arabia (Instagram/@maartenpaes).

The naturalized goalkeeper, Maarten Paes, is known to have joined the Indonesian national team in Saudi Arabia ahead of the 2026 World Cup Qualification Third Round. On that occasion, he promised to help the Garuda Squad to achieve achievements.

After officially becoming an Indonesian citizen in April 2024, Maarten Paes had to wait three months to be able to join the Indonesian national team. The reason is that the transfer of federations from the Netherlands (KNVB) to Indonesia (PSSI) was rejected by FIFA.

FIFA questioned the legality of its citizenship because it had played for the Netherlands.

However, now Maarten Paes has been able to join his teammates in the team. He also followed the team in Saudi Arabia and participated in the inaugural training session on Monday, September 2, 2024.

As a new player, Paes stated that he was very happy. He promised to show his best and help the prestate maraih when he was trusted to come down in the Indonesian national team uniform.

"My name is Maarten. I'm happy to be here happy, it's an honor for me. I am very grateful and hope that we both achieve great things," said Maarten Paes in his statement during training quoted Wednesday, September 4, 2024.

Even though he has participated in training with the Indonesian national team in Saudi Arabia, Maarten Paes cannot be lowered. The latest news was that the FC Dallas goalkeeper was late in being registered due to the FIFA permit issue.

In addition, the condition of the Dutch-born goalkeeper is also reported to be not ideal. He is still exhausted after a long trip from the United States.

Therefore, Paes has not been involved in a high-intensity training session. He only trains lightly with goalkeeping coaches.

As a result, Maarten Paes is likely to only act when Indonesia host Australia on September 10, 2024 at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium (SUGBK), Jakarta.

Apart from that, the coach of the Indonesian national team, Shin Tae-yong, stated that there is no guarantee for Maarten Paes to continue to be a starter. He emphasized that all players have the same opportunity.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper had to compete with Ernando Ari Sutaryadi, Nadeo Argawinata, to Adi Satryo.

"Even though Maarten came, it was not guaranteed 100 percent of him will continue to play," said Shin Tae-yong.