Indonesia coach Ivan Kolev has warned opponents that his team should not be underestimated as they prepare to kick off their Asian Cup campaign against Bahrain on Tuesday.
Despite co-hosting the tournament, the Indonesians are considered outsiders in Group D, which also features 2002 World Cup semi-finalists South Korea and three-time Asian champions Saudi Arabia.
But Kolev stressed it was the quality of the individual players that brought him back to the team's helm for a second stint as coach and insists they should not be discounted.
"Basically, the Indonesia national team is not as bad as people think," said Kolev, who guided the team at the previous edition of the competition in China in 2004.
"They have players who have skills and talents as good those of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia or South Korea.
"We have individual skills and we will try to unite them into one team and these skills are one of the reasons that made me accept the job to be Indonesia coach.
"I have my own way of coaching and telling the players that they have abilities and skills equal in quality with the other teams in the group."
Indonesia and Bahrain met at the last Asian Cup, in China in 2004, with the latter running out 3-0 winners.
Now under Czech coach Milan Macala, who took over less than two months ago after being sacked by Oman, the Bahrainis go into the game looking to build on the success of three years ago, when they finished fourth overall.
Macala, however, is wary of the co-hosts after seeing Thailand and Vietnam pick up a draw and a win over Iraq and the United Arab Emirates respectively on the tournament's opening two days.
"Vietnam's win against the UAE is not good news for us," said the former Kuwait and Saudi Arabia coach.
"Our match against Indonesia will be our first match in the tournament. They will have big support behind them and I'm sure that the stadium will be completely full.
"After only three matches, we saw that there are no weak teams in the tournament and all the teams are good which means that the tournament will be nice.
"We all saw how Australia, the favourites, celebrated their draw against Oman who had three clear chances to win. We also saw how UAE had good chances to win against Vietnam but they lost.
"The co-hosts of the tournament proved that they will not be here to make up the numbers. Indonesia want to beat us - they have a lot of pressure on them and will take this game very seriously."
But Kolev stressed it was the quality of the individual players that brought him back to the team's helm for a second stint as coach and insists they should not be discounted.
"Basically, the Indonesia national team is not as bad as people think," said Kolev, who guided the team at the previous edition of the competition in China in 2004.
"They have players who have skills and talents as good those of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia or South Korea.
"We have individual skills and we will try to unite them into one team and these skills are one of the reasons that made me accept the job to be Indonesia coach.
"I have my own way of coaching and telling the players that they have abilities and skills equal in quality with the other teams in the group."
Indonesia and Bahrain met at the last Asian Cup, in China in 2004, with the latter running out 3-0 winners.
Now under Czech coach Milan Macala, who took over less than two months ago after being sacked by Oman, the Bahrainis go into the game looking to build on the success of three years ago, when they finished fourth overall.
Macala, however, is wary of the co-hosts after seeing Thailand and Vietnam pick up a draw and a win over Iraq and the United Arab Emirates respectively on the tournament's opening two days.
"Vietnam's win against the UAE is not good news for us," said the former Kuwait and Saudi Arabia coach.
"Our match against Indonesia will be our first match in the tournament. They will have big support behind them and I'm sure that the stadium will be completely full.
"After only three matches, we saw that there are no weak teams in the tournament and all the teams are good which means that the tournament will be nice.
"We all saw how Australia, the favourites, celebrated their draw against Oman who had three clear chances to win. We also saw how UAE had good chances to win against Vietnam but they lost.
"The co-hosts of the tournament proved that they will not be here to make up the numbers. Indonesia want to beat us - they have a lot of pressure on them and will take this game very seriously."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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