Indonesian football observer Akmal Marhali said that Shin Tae-yong's (STY) return to coach the Indonesian national team after Patrick Kluivert's departure is not a solution.
Currently, the public is often mentioning the name of STY, who once coached the Indonesian national team for five years, but Akmal said that the return of the South Korean coach could actually be a problem.
"I differ with Bang Andre (Rosiade) regarding STY's return. In my opinion, STY's return, given the current situation, where STY's fans are too massive to push for STY, I don't think it's a solution," said Akmal when met by media crew after a discussion event for the Indonesian national team with Andre Rosiade which was part of the 2025 Media Cup series at Pendekar Goozone Mini Socces Cibis.
"It would even be a problem even if the Exco wanted it, but if it fails, its already good reputation in Indonesia would be tarnished," he said.
When asked about the Indonesian national team's progress in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers, Akmal, the Save Our Soccer Coordinator, didn't feel Indonesia had failed in principle. He considered Indonesia's achievement of reaching the fourth qualifying round to be the best, as Indonesia had never reached this stage before.
"Because in my opinion, in principle, we didn't fail. Because our best achievement was round 4. With the world all saying that Indonesia only has a 5 percent chance of qualifying for the World Cup. That means our dream is 95 percent, but our reality of qualifying for the World Cup is only 5 percent. So, we're expecting too much," Akmal said.
