After the visit of Arsenal, Liverpool FC is the second of three English Premier League soccer teams to arrive in Jakarta, with Chelsea expected to follow less than a week later.

Liverpool, which is hailed as one of Europe'€™s biggest soccer clubs, arrived at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, East Jakarta, on Wednesday as part of its pre-season 2013 Asia Tour.

The arrival of England'€™s top teams is applauded as positive, not only for national soccer but for Indonesia in general given the previous deadly bomb blasts that prevented Manchester United'€™s planned visit in July 2009.

Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) chairman Djohar Arifin said he was glad to see such big clubs coming to Indonesia and added that it proved the country had started to gain trust at the global level.

'€œUntil 2011, these clubs always skipped Indonesia whenever they toured Asia, but today it'€™s a different story. We'€™re starting to reap the rewards of our efforts to promote Indonesia on the international stage,'€ he told a press conference.

He said playing against the English clubs would really help Indonesian players improve their skills. '€œIt'€™s like if you hangout with smart people. If you do, you will likely learn to be smart as well'€.

Djohar said the Indonesian team lacked experience and confidence to play at the international level, but added these matches helped them improve.

According to Djohar, the Indonesian all star team would comprise 60 percent of under-23 players, with the remainder being senior players.

'€œWe want to give the young players as much experience as we can. We hope the more they play with world-class players the more they can learn from them and improve their confidence and skills,'€ he said.

For Liverpool, which finished seventh in the Premier League last season, this is the first to visit to Indonesia and the first stop on a tour that also sees the team visit Melbourne in Australia and Bangkok, Thailand.

The club'€™s entourage, including the first team squad under manager Brendan Rodgers, arrived onboard a special Garuda Indonesia A330-300 aircraft that sported a customized club logo and the words You'€™ll Never Walk Alone, which is a song sung by the club'€™s fan base.

Besides holding an open training session and playing a friendly match against Indonesia, The Reds '€” as the club are affectionately known '€” will also officiate the launching ceremony of the limited edition
'€œGaruda Indonesia '€” Liverpool Football GFF Club Card'€ on Friday.

The match will be held at Bung Karno Stadium on Saturday.

According to a release, almost all squad members are in Jakarta except for Luis Suarez, Sebastian Coates and Pepe Reina, who will join the team later.

Chelsea will arrive on July 23 and play a match on July 25 as part of its Asia Tour 2013, themed '€œHere to play, here to stay'€.

The club will likely bring first team players including Frank Lampard, Fernando Torres, Juan Mata, John Terry, Eden Hazard and Petr Cech.

Various activities including a coaching clinic and the inauguration of the club'€™s soccer school have been arranged ahead of their match against the Indonesia All Stars, also at Bung Karno Stadium.

Fans wanting to watch the Liverpool and Chelsea matches face ticket prices from Rp 150,000 (US$14) to Rp 3.5 million.

Liverpool squad

Brad Jones, Glen Johnson, Jose Enrique, Kolo Toure, Daniel Agger, Luis Alberto, Steven Gerrard, Lago Aspas, Philippe Coutinho, Oussama Assaidi, Daniel Pacheco, Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing, Jay Spearing, Lucas Leiva, Simon Mignolet, Joe Allen, Fabio Borini, Raheem Sterling, Martin Kelly, Martin Skrtel, Jon Flanagan, Andre Wisdom, Jack Robinson, Jordon Ibe, Luis Suarez, Sebastian Coates, Pepe Reina

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