Dreaming of defeating the Vietnamese team, Indonesia naturalizes "big guys" from Europe

At the 2023 Asian Cup, the Indonesian national team is in a difficult group with Japan, Iraq and Vietnam. To complete the mission of advancing to the next round after 18 years of returning to the Asian Cup finals, the country's football team hopes that naturalized players will improve the professional quality of the national team.

According to the Indonesian newspaper Bola, there are currently three candidates in the sights of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI), all of whom are from the Netherlands. The first is 21-year-old left-back Nathan Tjoe-A-On, who played in the Dutch national championship before moving to the English second division team Swansea City this season. Next is 23-year-old center-back Jay Idzes, 1m90 tall, who played in the Dutch national championship for clubs Eindhoven, Go Ahead Eagles and is currently playing for Italian club Venezia. Finally, midfielder Ragnar Oratmangoen is playing for Dutch national championship club Fortuna Sittard.

According to Bola, the decision to naturalize a player largely depends on coach Shin Tae Yong, who is a professional assessor and advises PSSI before carrying out legal procedures. The Korean coach is the one who proposed and actively campaigned for naturalization for the Indonesian national teams since taking over as head coach at the end of 2019. Coach Shin Tae Yong once went directly to the Netherlands to look for talent. 19-year-old midfielder Ivar Jenner, 1m87 tall, and 20-year-old striker Rafael Struick, 1m85 tall, both of Dutch origin, are two of the names that successfully naturalized after that trip.

Previously, the Indonesian national team successfully naturalized Elkan Baggott, Jordi Amat, Shayne Pattynama, Sandy Walsh... However, the team from the archipelago did not achieve the expected success. There were even times when they faced opposition from fans due to the lackluster performance of the naturalized players.