It was an emotional moment last night at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium as not only Indonesia waved goodbye to the AFF Suzuki Cup 2018, head coach Bima Sakti seemed to be on his way out as well.
Speaking at the post match press conference that was also attended by Honor Man of the Match Rico Simanjuntak, the former Indonesian captain said that he takes full responsibility in being unable to take the team to the semifinals.
“I would like to apologise to the Indonesian people for not being able to bring the team to the next round,” said Bima.
“I hope that there will be no witch hunt to look for the black sheep for this failure as I take full responsibility in selecting the players and how we will play tactically.
“My contract is only for the AFF Suzuki Cup. So I hope that whoever is chosen will be given the support that he deserves.”
Much was expected from the Indonesian team this time round as not only were they the losing finalist, they had also done well at the Under-23 level when the team competed at the Asian Games level.
Bima said that should the country want to have continued success, then they will have to revamp their development programme.
“For the moment, we are taking players from all over the place where most play games in kampong (village). We need a more systematic approach,” he added.
“We need the players to play competitively at a young age. That is what we need to do.”
