Indonesia team was mocked by Bahrain coach: 'Population of hundreds of millions but have to use Dutch players'

Naturalized players account for 3/4 of the Indonesian team.

A week earlier, the coach had said he was quite surprised because every time he called up the team, Indonesia introduced new naturalized players. This time, he said that despite having a large population, Indonesia is relying on players from Europe.

“I have watched many matches of the Indonesian team. And every time I watch, I see 2-3 new players. I am quite surprised about that. And it is remarkable that these new players are from the Netherlands and England, no one is from Indonesia. You have hundreds of millions of people but most of your players are from the Netherlands,” the Bahrain coach emphasized.

This is certainly a sarcastic statement by Mr. Talajic's opponent. While 80% of Indonesian players play abroad, almost all Bahrain players play domestically, except for 4 players and 1 player who plays in Spain.

Indonesia team was mocked by Bahrain coach: 'Population of hundreds of millions but have to use Dutch players' photo 2

Bahrain coach Talajic at press conference

The difference is huge, especially since Indonesia's squad is worth four times more than Bahrain's (36 million euros and 9.75 million euros). But Talajic is not too concerned about that. Tomorrow, the coach will focus on the task of winning 3 points right on Indonesian soil.

“There is nothing wrong with that plan (naturalization). We respect the Indonesian national team and we came here to win,” Talajic stressed. “We came here in the best form, with absolute confidence and great respect for our opponents.”

The two teams drew 2-2 in their first meeting in October last year. It was a match that was infamous for the controversial goal Bahrain scored to equalize 2-2. The team then faced the wrath of hundreds of thousands of Indonesians.

However, coach Talajic emphasized that the whole team has forgotten what happened and is only focused on winning the match tomorrow night (March 25). "I don't want to comment on the previous match. That's in the past, we've forgotten it. Now we focus on the upcoming match. As I said, we respect the Indonesian team, but we come here with confidence and we want to win."

Dang Lai

Source: https://tienphong.vn/tuyen-indonesia-bi-hlv-bahrain-cham-choc-dan-so-hang-tram-trieu-nhung-lai-phai-dung-cau-thu-ha-lan-post1727873.tpo