"The 50-year-old has taken quite a jump from Canada, a huge country where soccer is not the biggest sport, to Indonesia, a huge country where it definitely is. If he can repeat his 2022 heroics for 2030, he will be a hero to a nation of 280 million people who are just desperate to return to the global stage."
"When Herdman first takes the field at the iconic Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, he will see 80,000 red-clad fans, hear their songs and smell the humid Jakarta air even if, with a metropolitan area of about 40m, it is not quite as sweet as in other parts of the country. The potential rewards are as big as the actual challenges."
"Indonesia have been a huge underachiever in football, held back by politics, hooliganism, corruption (two decades on, it's still hard not to mention the fact that Nurdin Halid ran the federation from a prison cell) incompetence and politics. The current football chief Erick Thohir has been a government minister since 2019 and getting to the World Cup would surely boost the presidential ambitions of the former owner of MLS's DC United, the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and Serie A's Inter Milan."
John Herdman moved from Canada to Indonesia as national coach and faces a different football landscape. Indonesia is football-obsessed with large crowds at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, which holds 80,000. The country seeks a first World Cup appearance in 92 years and presents high rewards alongside deep challenges. Indonesian football has been hindered by politics, hooliganism, corruption (including Nurdin Halid), incompetence, and governance problems. Erick Thohir became federation chief in February 2023 and oversaw a rise from FIFA rank 151 to 122. Recent qualifying form improved from one point and a -22 goal difference in 2022 to a competitive 2026 run that lost in a fourth-round playoff.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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