PSSI Targets The Women's National Team To Be Achieved At The Southeast Asian Level

SOE Minister Erick Thohir (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) targets the Indonesian women's national team to excel at the Southeast Asian level in the next three to four years.

"The target (women's national team can excel) is of course, Southeast Asia first," said PSSI General Chair Erick Thohir quoting Antara.

PSSI continues to strengthen the Indonesian women's national team. One of the short to medium-range efforts is to naturalize players who have Indonesian lineages.

The latest naturalization was carried out on two Dutch players Embolus Loupattij and Noamen Christina Cornelia Leatomu who had taken the citizenship oath as Indonesian citizens (WNI) in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Friday (8/11).

Erick admitted that the women's national team's achievements were far behind because they were built from the lowest conditions.

"Even at that time I talked about coach Shin Tae-yong (the coach of the men's national team) from scratch, coach Mochi (the coach of the women's national team, Satoru Mochizuki) from minus the build," he said.

Therefore, improvements to the women's national team continue to be carried out, including through naturalization of players to strengthen the Garuda Pertiwi squad.

"Maybe three, four, another year (the achievement of the women's national team) will start to sound, it will be illegal," he said.

The Indonesian women's national team played the latest match on FIFA Matchday against the Dutch women's national team at De Vijverberg Stadium, Netherlands on Friday (25/10).

In that match, coach Satoru Mochizuki's team, who was in FIFA's ranking, lost 0-15 to the Dutch national team, which was in 11th place in FIFA.