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It's Hard for Indonesia to Set Up Women's Soccer Team
The Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI)'s women's soccer team manager Poppy Salim expressed difficulty in finding new talents for the national team.
"It's difficult to find a woman who wants to play soccer. We have many women soccer clubs but PSSI can't monitor their trainings. These clubs are also facing financial problems," Salim was quoted by Sunday's issue of local newspaper the Jakarta Post Sunday as saying.
Salim, a former national player in the early 1970s, said that at a certain point, a woman would have to choose between a soccer career and a family life.
Salim also said PSSI was not pressuring her to set up a national team for the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in September.
"Hopefully, the women's team can perform in the SEA Games. We are trying to select players from other provinces like Kendari in Southeast Sulawesi and Irian Jaya. If everything goes according to plan, we'll start the training program in March. But if we can 't make a team, we have to skip the Games," she said on the sidelines of the 2001 women's soccer invitational at Bung Karno sports complex in Senayan here.
The difficulty in seeking new talents for women's soccer was obvious at the event as Buana Putri fielded its 50-year-old striker Katrina Muhardi. The team was the 1980 champion of the semipro women's league Galanita.
Buana Putri crushed Putri Jatim 7-1 in Group A pre-qualifying round on Saturday. Thirty-year-old striker Yakso Bukor Propen contributed six of seven goals for her team.
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