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Coach Peter Withe: Notes from the 'Timnas' touchline
Fighting: Peter Withe plays for English club Nottingham Forest, despite having sustained a broken nose from a challenge on the pitch
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Fighting: Peter Withe plays for English club Nottingham Forest, despite having sustained a broken nose from a challenge on the pitch. âI just played on, as we did in those days,â Withe said. (Courtesy Peter Withe)" border="0" height="637" width="500">Fighting: Peter Withe plays for English club Nottingham Forest, despite having sustained a broken nose from a challenge on the pitch. âI just played on, as we did in those days,â Withe said. (Courtesy Peter Withe)In 2004, the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) turned to Englishman Peter Withe to revive the fortunes of the Indonesian national soccer team (Timnas). Withe, who won the European Cup as a player and who enjoyed success at the helm of the Thai national team, accepted the challenge and managed Timnas for three years. In the first of a two-part series, Withe tells The Jakarta Post how he found his way to Indonesiaâs top soccer job.
It was minutes after 6 a.m. on Dec. 26, 2004 and Peter Withe was on the training ground, putting the Indonesian national soccer team through its paces.
He observed the players, praising them here, offering advice there. Withe had only been on the job for months, but with decades of experience as a player, coach, manager and scout, he knew what to look for.
Withe was watching to see who was ready for the test to come â a test of national pride, as Indonesia readied to face archrival Malaysia in the semifinals of the 2004 Tiger Cup.
Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.
âI donât know why, but I had this eerie feeling,â Withe recalled.
There was a hive of activity in the crowd watching the squad. Withe stopped training and spoke to his
assistant manager.
âThereâs been a disaster,â said the assistant, according to Withe. âThereâs been an earthquake near Aceh.â
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake had struck, creating a tsunami that devastated Aceh province and killed at least 130,000 Indonesians.
Legend: Peter Withe (white shirt) shoots past goalkeeper Manfred Muller and scores the winning goal for Aston Villa in the 1982 European Cup final against Bayern Munich in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The goal turned Withe into an Aston Villa legend. (Courtesy Peter Withe)
As a player, Withe had faced some of the best to have ever graced the game: Michel Platini, Paolo Rossi, Karl-Heinz Rummeneige and even the Black Pearl himself, Pelé, considered by many as the greatest the game has ever seen.
Now as a manager, Withe faced a test of a different magnitude: How to lift an entire nation in mourning? How to motivate the players of a squad â some of whom had family and friends in Aceh â for one of the biggest games of their careers?
In the bowels of Bung Karno Stadium, 80,000 Indonesian fans were screaming, stomping above their heads, igniting flares. Withe got his players together.
âI told the players about a piece of psychology Iâd always used. The idea that you have to cross the line,â With recalled. âOnce theyâd crossed that line onto the pitch, it didnât matter what was going on in their lives. For 90 minutes, they were going to try to win a game of football.â
While Indonesia lost the first semifinal leg in Jakarta 2-1, the team rallied to beat Malaysia 4-1 in Kuala Lumpur â an astonishing turnaround that saw them reach the final at their rivalâs expense.
âIt was one of the saddest times Iâve had in football,â said Withe of the tsunami. âBut I think we lifted a nation with that tournament.â
He continues. âThere was all this sadness and bitterness. Everyone thought we were finished after the first leg defeat â but suddenly we turned it around and people saw what the Indonesian football team was
really about. It was very gratifying.â
While Indonesia eventually lost to Singapore in the final, national pride had been maintained. It was perhaps the high point of Witheâs three-year stint as Indonesian manager.
Withe, born and raised in Liverpool in the UK, had been head hunted by the Indonesian FA three years earlier, coming highly recommended.
The Englishman, born in Liverpool in August 1951, had a glittering professional career that ran from 1969 to 1989 and saw him play for clubs in England, including Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Sheffield United; South Africa (Port Elizabeth City and Arcadia Shepherds); the US (Portland Timbers); and Zambia (Power Dynamoes), as well as being capped 11 times by the English national team.
As a player, Withe won the likes of the European Super Cup, the English league title, the English League Cup and reached the heights of club soccer by scoring the winning goal for Aston Villa against Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup final.
In 1998, he took on the job of Thailand national team boss.
Fighting: <)
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span class="inline inline-none">Fighting: Peter Withe plays for English club Nottingham Forest, despite having sustained a broken nose from a challenge on the pitch. 'I just played on, as we did in those days,' Withe said. (Courtesy Peter Withe)
In 2004, the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) turned to Englishman Peter Withe to revive the fortunes of the Indonesian national soccer team (Timnas). Withe, who won the European Cup as a player and who enjoyed success at the helm of the Thai national team, accepted the challenge and managed Timnas for three years. In the first of a two-part series, Withe tells The Jakarta Post how he found his way to Indonesia's top soccer job.
It was minutes after 6 a.m. on Dec. 26, 2004 and Peter Withe was on the training ground, putting the Indonesian national soccer team through its paces.
He observed the players, praising them here, offering advice there. Withe had only been on the job for months, but with decades of experience as a player, coach, manager and scout, he knew what to look for.
Withe was watching to see who was ready for the test to come ' a test of national pride, as Indonesia readied to face archrival Malaysia in the semifinals of the 2004 Tiger Cup.
Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.
'I don't know why, but I had this eerie feeling,' Withe recalled.
There was a hive of activity in the crowd watching the squad. Withe stopped training and spoke to his
assistant manager.
'There's been a disaster,' said the assistant, according to Withe. 'There's been an earthquake near Aceh.'
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake had struck, creating a tsunami that devastated Aceh province and killed at least 130,000 Indonesians.
As a player, Withe had faced some of the best to have ever graced the game: Michel Platini, Paolo Rossi, Karl-Heinz Rummeneige and even the Black Pearl himself, Pelé, considered by many as the greatest the game has ever seen.
Now as a manager, Withe faced a test of a different magnitude: How to lift an entire nation in mourning? How to motivate the players of a squad ' some of whom had family and friends in Aceh ' for one of the biggest games of their careers?
In the bowels of Bung Karno Stadium, 80,000 Indonesian fans were screaming, stomping above their heads, igniting flares. Withe got his players together.
'I told the players about a piece of psychology I'd always used. The idea that you have to cross the line,' With recalled. 'Once they'd crossed that line onto the pitch, it didn't matter what was going on in their lives. For 90 minutes, they were going to try to win a game of football.'
While Indonesia lost the first semifinal leg in Jakarta 2-1, the team rallied to beat Malaysia 4-1 in Kuala Lumpur ' an astonishing turnaround that saw them reach the final at their rival's expense.
'It was one of the saddest times I've had in football,' said Withe of the tsunami. 'But I think we lifted a nation with that tournament.'
He continues. 'There was all this sadness and bitterness. Everyone thought we were finished after the first leg defeat ' but suddenly we turned it around and people saw what the Indonesian football team was
really about. It was very gratifying.'
While Indonesia eventually lost to Singapore in the final, national pride had been maintained. It was perhaps the high point of Withe's three-year stint as Indonesian manager.
Withe, born and raised in Liverpool in the UK, had been head hunted by the Indonesian FA three years earlier, coming highly recommended.
The Englishman, born in Liverpool in August 1951, had a glittering professional career that ran from 1969 to 1989 and saw him play for clubs in England, including Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Sheffield United; South Africa (Port Elizabeth City and Arcadia Shepherds); the US (Portland Timbers); and Zambia (Power Dynamoes), as well as being capped 11 times by the English national team.
As a player, Withe won the likes of the European Super Cup, the English league title, the English League Cup and reached the heights of club soccer by scoring the winning goal for Aston Villa against Bayern Munich in the 1982 European Cup final.
In 1998, he took on the job of Thailand national team boss.
'At the time I was head of European scouting at Aston Villa. I saw a national coach job advertised on an English Football Association circular,' Withe recounted.
'I didn't know where the job was, but I knew it was in Asia. I sent my CV and got an interview. The Thai FA wanted to offer me a six-month contract. It was a stumbling block for me and I wasn't going to go, but then I decided I'd show them what I could do.'
It was a decision neither sided regretted. By 2004, Withe was on the crest of a wave of managerial success, leading the Thais to several trophies, including the SEA Games gold for that nation's U-23 squad in 1999.
'I looked at going to Asia as an opportunity. The big draw was the chance to coach a national team,' said Withe, who added that the idea of moving abroad did not faze him one bit.
'When you make a decision ' like I did as a 20-year-old ' to go to South Africa to pursue a dream, going to Asia wasn't as daunting as it might have been. I played in Zambia and the US, so it was just another region on my list.'
He took Thailand the closest it had ever been to a World Cup, reaching the last ten Asian nations attempting to qualify for the 2002 competition that was held in Japan and South Korea.
However, for prospective employers such as the Indonesian FA, the starkest endorsement of Withe's abilities was centered on the damage he did to Indonesia's Southeast Asian soccer credentials at the turn of the century.
Withe's Thailand had beaten Indonesia in the finals of both the 2000 and the 2002 Tiger Cups.
'My success led to a few national team offers, but in the end I looked at the 220 million people living in Indonesia and I thought if we could get it right there, then we could really challenge for silverware on all fronts in Southeast Asia,' he said.
The Indonesian FA contacted Withe through an assistant, and soon they agreed to a deal.
As he set about trying to improve the Indonesian national team, Withe came to understand both the size of the job at hand and its eccentricities, including visiting his boss ' former Indonesian FA chairman Nurdin Halid ' behind bars.
'It was an odd situation,' said Withe. 'Nurdin had pending charges against him and was in prison, so I had to meet with him there. He always wanted to give us his best regards before tournaments and was very supportive in that way, but visiting the prison wasn't pleasant.'
Withe, however, remained phlegmatic and soon got back to the pitch.
'We had to put it to the back of our minds and get on with playing football,' he said.
