World Cup winners Argentina will go to Indonesia subsequent month for a pleasant towards its nationwide staff, its high soccer official mentioned on Wednesday, in a lift for a rustic that has suffered a succession of latest soccer setbacks.
The go to will likely be a part of an Asian tour by the South American facet that additionally features a June 15 cease in Beijing for a pleasant towards Australia.
The announcement comes at a time when Argentina is internet hosting the Under-20 World Cup as a substitute for Muslim-majority Indonesia, which in March was stripped of the event over home resistance to the participation of Israel.
The pleasant will happen eight months after Indonesia suffered one of many world’s deadliest stadium stampedes, with 135 individuals killed in a scramble to flee as police fired tear gasoline into the stands in Malang in East Java.
Though soccer is big within the nation of 270 million individuals, Indonesia has struggled to make its mark within the worldwide recreation since a single World Cup look again in 1938 because the Dutch East Indies.
Its followers are, nevertheless, at present on a excessive from final week successful the gold medal on the South East Asian Games for the primary time since 1991.
“This is great momentum for Indonesian football to maintain its resurgence,” Erick Thohir, chief of the Indonesian soccer affiliation (PSSI) advised a press convention on the Argentina match.
Erick, a former proprietor of Serie A facet Inter Milan, didn’t specify the date for the match, which Argentina’s soccer affiliation mentioned on Twitter could be on June 19.
Asked if captain Lionel Messi could be coming to Indonesia, he mentioned “I believe Argentina will bring their best team.”
The go to had nothing to do with Argentina internet hosting the youth event as an alternative of Indonesia, however was based mostly on “mutual cooperation” between them, he mentioned, including Inter’s former Argentine defender Javier Zanetti had performed a task.
Argentina and Indonesia final met within the World Youth Championship in Japan in 1979, a match through which the good Diego Maradona performed. Indonesia misplaced 5-0.
