Between Shin Tae-yong, Patrick Kluiver, And The Indonesian National Team

Shin Tae-yong's departure from the Indonesian national team caused a debate (VOI/Ferry Tri Adi Sasono).

JAKARTA - Hoaxes basically have two main principles. The principle is too good to be true and too bad to be true.

The principle that applies to the plural. When you get such a beautiful narrative about something, the first thing that should arise is suspicion. Likewise, too bad narratives, which are better to respond critically.

Talking about football is the same. When there is a too bad narrative about debated discussions, such as changing the coach of the Indonesian National Team, it should be criticized and suspected.

Having a positive or negative perception of changing coach from Shin Tae-yong to (held) Patrick Kluivert is fine.

This was expressed by Indonesian football observer Rio Chaniado, responding to the hot issues that have hit the Indonesian national team recently.

"As an initial perception, football lovers have the right to be prejudiced. It is suspected that this policy is wrong or vice versa."

"However, punishing the policy of recruiting Kluivers is right or wrong, it feels too early and unfair."

"The problem is, football is not determined by opinion or perception from the small screen. However, football is determined by the results on the field."

"Let's study critically and objectively about changing the Indonesian national team coach. A number of facts can be used as an initial reference," said Indonesian football observer Rio Chaniado.

Rio further revealed that the facts included were the position of the Indonesian national team which is now in third place in the 2026 World Cup Qualification standings.

For information, the top two rankings in the final standings will immediately qualify for the 2026 World Cup. While the third and fourth rankings will advance to the Fourth Round of Qualification.

"The second fact is about the conflict between the players and the coach. The facts are the conflict between Shin Tae-yong and Elkan Bagott and Stefano Lilipaly."

"The third fact is a communication issue. It's no secret that so far Shin Tae-yong has not been able to communicate directly with his players due to language constraints."

"So, so far, in communicating with coaches from South Korea, they always use the services of translators," said Rio again.

The dynamic team's condition with the entry of many new players makes communication factors very, very important.

If not, then the team's internal consolidation could fall apart and lead to internal conflict.

"So, the fact is that Shin Tae-yong's new contract with PSSI requires him to learn language, at least English, to eliminate communication problems. However, until now everything has not been done by Shin."

"No wonder then the issue of harmonization emerged in the Garuda Squad. This is like being mentioned in a press conference about changing the Indonesian national team coach."

"After the match against Bahrain and ahead of the match against China, there is internal dynamics. This dynamic can be seen by Eliano Reijnders' crossed out, he backuped Thom Haye, until Mees Hilgers, who only played one round before leaving. In November's match, Hilgers refused to appear," said Rio analyzing the previous incident.

It's no secret that changing coaches, who can be said to have a top label, could happen because of demands from supporters or pressure from players in the dressing room.

PSSI clearly does not want to see naturalized players, who have been trying hard to move citizens, reluctant to defend the national team.

Moreover, the names of the diaspora players have a predicate that cannot be underestimated in Europe.

With indications of conflict in the Indonesian national team's dressing room, changing coaches can be a solution. This is of course to prevent worse impacts from happening.

"I personally don't see Shin Tae-yong's change to Kluivert as part of an instant strategy to qualify for the 2026 World Cup."

"More than that, this is the internal consolidation of the Indonesian national team in the midst of the dynamics that are happening."

"With the entry of Kluivert, the problem of communication and changing rooms is expected to subside immediately. In addition, this is also part of the team's consolidation strategy ahead of the joining of a number of high-end players, such as Ole Romney and Jairo Riedewald," said Rio.

The public cannot deny that the spike in the achievements of the Indonesian national team actually occurred because of the material for descendants who did have a class at the top level of Asia.

With the joining of Ole and Jairo, you could say that technically the strength of the Garuda Squad will increase even more than before.

So, the presence of a new coach has a role not just technical but non-technical. In this situation objectively the role of Kluiver seems reasonable.

He is not just head of tactics, but also head of the consolidation of the entire team. His role is expected to be the glue of the team, not the source of conflict.

"In the end, the strategy to take Kluiver as head coach has positive potential and vice versa."

"However, all of these potentials will only be proven later after the Indonesian national team navigates the entire 2026 World Cup Qualification match."

"Let's value it qualitatively and quantitatively the performance of the Indonesian national team on the field. Do not just judge it because of prejudice, let alone the fabrication of information on social media."

" Quoting the words of the great writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer, 'A educated person must have done what is fair from the heart, let alone in his actions'," Rio said closing the interview.

Apart from that, the introduction of the new Indonesian national team coach is planned to be carried out by PSSI on January 12, 2025.