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"They offered me the job, but they only gave me part of the contract," said former Vietnam coach Alfred Riedl of his talks with the Indonesian national team.

PSSI Extends Job Offer to Riedl
With 2011 Asian Cup qualifying behind it and 2014 World Cup qualifying ahead of it, the Indonesian national team faces a brief but crucial period of self-evaluation.

Its 1-0 loss at Australia on Wednesday brought to a close an unsuccessful qualifying campaign that saw Indonesia miss the continental championship for the first time since 1992. It also brought down the curtain on Benny Dollo’s second spell in charge of the team.

As part of the rebuilding needed to arrest the slide in the national team’s fortunes, the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) on Thursday announced it had appointed former Vietnam and Laos coach Alfred Riedl as the new senior and Under-23 national team coach.

“Riedl will be the head coach for both the Under-23 and senior teams starting this month. I don’t think it will be a problem as we will send mostly Under-23 players for international events this year, including the [2014] World Cup and [2012] Olympic qualifiers,” PSSI secretary general Nugraha Besoes said.

“We have to send more youngsters to international tournaments as we will never perform well without proper regeneration.”

However, Riedl said he had not completed any deal with the PSSI.

“[The PSSI] offered me the job, but they only gave me part of the contract. They didn’t give me the full draft, and I haven’t received any more information from them,” the 60-year-old Austrian said in a phone interview with the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.

“It was only the part about the salary and bonus payments, nothing else. If this is going to be a two-year contract, it should be a little more concrete.”

Nugraha cited Riedl’s coaching skill and familiarity with Southeast Asia as the main reason behind the PSSI’s move.

Riedl had three spells in charge of Vietnam (1998-2001, 2003-04, 2005-07) and laid the groundwork for the country to emerge as the rising force in Southeast Asian football. His work bore fruit in December 2008 as Vietnam won its first AFF Suzuki Cup title, overcoming traditional powers Singapore and Thailand en route to the crown.

He also led the Laos U-23 team to a bronze medal in the 2009 Southeast Asian Games, its first SEA Games football medal. The run included the first victory over an Indonesian team in Laos’ history, a 2-0 group stage win.

While details were still scarce, Reidl said he was eager to make the move.

“I would love to come to Indonesia. I have a lot of experience in Southeast Asia and was very successful with Vietnam and Laos. It could be a fruitful partnership with Indonesia,” he said.

The PSSI cannot afford to dawdle, though, as Riedl said he was also in talks with Laos about an extension of his contract, which expired on Jan. 31.

“I still have no firm offer from Laos or Indonesia. I’ve been talking with the Laos FA and the Indonesian FA, but right now the Laos FA is doing more talking,” he said.

Another part of the PSSI’s ongoing shuffle was revealed on Thursday. It claimed the Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) nominated Ruud Krol to be Indonesia’s coach.

Last month, the PSSI approached the KNVB and asked for help in finding a new coach and technical director for the national team.

“The KNVB answered our call for help and nominated Ruud Krol as coach, but we want him to be the technical director. We’ll ask the KNVB to confirm if they agree to Krol’s appointment as technical director,” he said.

Krol, 61, made 83 appearances as a defender for the Dutch national team from 1969 to 1983. He had 339 appearances in 12 seasons with Ajax before finishing his playing career with Napoli and Cannes.

Having previously managed in Belgium, Switzerland, Egypt and France, he is currently the manager of South African side Orlando Pirates.

To give the national team more run-outs, the PSSI announced it would host two international tournaments. The Anniversary Cup will take place on April 2-7 as part of the PSSI’s anniversary celebration, and the Independence Cup will return in August. Nugraha said three teams were invited to each event but gave no further details.

Indonesia begins 2012 Olympic Games qualifying on Sept. 25-30, with 2014 World Cup qualifying beginning in October. Football

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/sports/pssi-extends-job-offer-to-riedl/362013