Monday, January 05, 2026
Herdman Takes Charge Of Garuda
The perceived wisdom when it comes to a poisoned chalice as the Indonesian hot seat, is someone at least with Asian experience, and given the recent focus on recruiting the diaspora, someone with knowledge if not of Dutch but at least Dutch football.
Herdman brings neither.
Ever since Luis Milla raised the bar, the PSSI have aimed high with their coaching appointments and the five years Shin Tae Yong spent at the helm showed what could happen when a coach experienced in Asian football is given time.
Sadly, the politically inspired vanity selection of Patrick Kluivert has rather upset the apple cart and done who knows what damage to the national team landscape.
Is Herdman the man to at least take us back to where we were under STY?
Unknown maybe, but he is experienced, having worked in New Zealand and Canada with men's and women's national teams.
But with no disrespect to either nation or his pedigree, New Zealand is a rugby-playing nation and Canada, when they're not telling the world they're separate from the USA, prefers ice-hockey. Football is very much a niche sport and Herdman would have been freely able to walk down to his local minimart without anyone noticing.
Indonesia will be different.Very different. He'll be under pressure from the PSSI who no doubt will be setting unreasonable targets, from the media who will be demanding he win the World Cup by the end of the week and supporters who just want to get behind a team they can believe in
The PSSI has made much of the fact one reason they went for Herdman was his willingness to base himself permanently in Indonesia. If that is true, it's hardly a ringing endorsement!
Until he announces his first squad we won't know whether he will be continuing the diaspora project so enthusiastically backed by the PSSI or if he will turn the focus on local players.
With Indonesian competing in the FIFA Series in March, I guess we won't have long to wait.
# posted by Me @ 11:34 PM 
