Coach Kluivert is Indonesia's weak point

Coach Kluivert is not trusted in his leadership ability - Photo: BJGR

Many people doubt Kluivert's leadership skills.

Doubts about Patrick Kluivert’s coaching ability have not only arisen recently. Two months ago, when the former Dutch player was appointed by the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI), his own countrymen openly expressed their doubts.

Marciano Vink, a former Dutch player who was Kluivert's senior at Ajax and the national team, did not hesitate to criticize his junior in a television program in January.

"You guys think the same, right? Pastoor should be the head coach, and Kluivert should just be his assistant," said Vink.

Pastoor is the assistant coach appointed by PSSI for Kluivert, in the Indonesian national team coaching staff announced 2 months ago.

Although not a prominent name, Pastoor has more than 20 years of experience as a coach. Having worked in 8 different teams, he has held the role of head coach in all of them, including clubs with rich traditions such as Slavia Prague, AZ or Sparta Rotterdam.

Compared to assistant Pastoor, Kluivert is 10 years younger, but his name is famous thanks to his impressive football career.

He started his coaching career in 2010 as an assistant coach at Brisbane Roar (Australia), then moved on to lead the U21 team of Twente (Netherlands).

Kluivert changed jobs six more times in the past 10 years, but most of them were as an assistant or youth coach.

At famous teams like Cameroon and the Netherlands, Kluivert only played the role of assistant. When he returned to Ajax, he was only assigned to lead the youth team.

The rare team that Mr. Kluivert was given the position of head coach was Curacao. It was also when he was in the Curacao position that Kluivert never had a serious attitude towards work. Having just taken the position of head coach of a national team, the former Barca player still kept in touch with Ajax and PSG - the team that gave him the role of sports director.

As a result, Kluivert left the Curacao coach's position after just one year in the job - in 2016, without leaving any significant mark.

In July 2023, Kluivert became the head coach of a club for the first time, Adana Demirspor in Türkiye. But he was fired after only 5 months on the job.

That's all Patrick Kluivert's coaching CV is. Modest, disjointed and lacking in professionalism.

Indonesia (red shirt) lost 1-5 to Australia - Photo: AFP

Classic lessons of Asian football

PSSI’s decision to appoint Kluivert, which sparked controversy two months ago, has now drawn even more criticism. If they wanted a Dutchman, PSSI clearly had plenty of options.

In the match against Australia, the Indonesian players attacked from the first minutes, and then they lost miserably when they failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

There are a series of similar "classic" lessons every time Asian teams invite foreign experts. That is the Thai team, with coach Milovan Rajevac in the 2017-2019 period, or the Korean team with former player Paulo Bento in the 2018-2022 period.

The above coaches all have certain achievements in their coaching careers. But they still failed when leading a national team, because they did not really understand their new working environment.

Patrick Kluivert is much less experienced and less capable in coaching than Rajevac or Bento. In addition, there is the "fake" feeling of a "Dutch-ized" Indonesian team.

Transfermarkt values ​​the current Indonesian national team players as the 6th most valuable in Asia, higher than many giants such as Australia and Saudi Arabia.

But player value has never been a broad enough measure to judge the true strength of a team. Most of Indonesia’s current naturalized players do not know each other, have never played together in youth teams, or are teammates or friends.

When a team uses an entire starting lineup of naturalized players - even naturalized within just the past year, the football world has a very special precedent.

But former football stars entering the coaching profession with a superficial attitude like Kluivert is not an uncommon precedent.

Just the generation of former Dutch players at the same time as him, the football world has witnessed similar names like Frank De Boer, Seedorf... None of them were successful as coaches.

Indonesia's chances of reaching the World Cup are still intact, with three "final" matches ahead. But the "weak spot" on their head coach's bench will be the position that the Chinese and Bahraini teams are aiming for.

Tomorrow, March 25, Indonesia will face Bahrain in Group C of the 3rd qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Asia.

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hlv-kluivert-la-diem-yeu-cua-indonesia-20250324100424419.htm