“I was more of a fan of the national team at that time. But I really admire Ricky Yacobi, who was at that time playing as a striker for Arseto Solo. He had stolen the attention from so many soccer fans outside his own club,” Ignatius Indro, the head of the Indonesian National Team Fans Association, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

“He was like Marco Van Basten, who had always been able to create possibilities out of difficult moments.”

Indro said Ricky’s death should be treated as a wakeup call for all Indonesian soccer stakeholders that the country was in dire need of finding players who could fit Ricky’s shoes as a professional.

“We now have some good [players] like Bagas Kaffa and Egy Maulana, among others, but they need more hours and matches to prove that they could be like Ricky or even fly higher than him,” he said.

Bagas used to play for the U-19 national team and has just finished training in Europe. He is now heading back to Barito Putra, his previous club. He and his twin brother, Bagus Kahfi, have been lauded as one of Indonesia’s future star players for their distinguished talents. Bagus also played with the U-19 national team, but unlike Bagas, he is training with Garuda Select in Italy and is considering playing with Utrecht FC in the Netherlands.

Egy Maulana Vikri, who is now joining Lechia Gdanks of Poland, is still waiting to prove himself capable both to the club and sport fans.

Indro acknowledged that Indonesia had been blessed with so many talented youngsters but no matter how good they were, they would achieve very little without consistent training and a professional league where they could improve their skills.

Rahmad Darmawan, former national team coach, recalled that Ricky always reminded him of the importance of training and building more soccer infrastructure.

“A good player is not created overnight. That is why Ricky always reminded me to pay serious attention to the young players’ training system,” Rahmad, former Persija Jakarta player and also a retired Indonesian Navy major, told tribunnews.com on Saturday.

Rahmad joined 1988 national team along with senior players like Ricky Yacobi and Herry Kiswanto, among others. 

Ricky died on Saturday at the Mintoharjo Hospital in Central Jakarta. He was 57. Ricky reportedly had a heart attack while playing soccer at the Senayan Soccer Field in Central Jakarta. He was taken to the Mintoharjo Hospital by his teammates where he was declared dead.

Born in Medan, North Sumatra, on March 12, 1963, Ricky started his professional soccer career playing for PSMS Medan from 1979 until 1985.

He then played for the Arseto Solo soccer club from 1986 to 1991. In 1988, Ricky was recruited by Japanese soccer team Matsuhita, now called Gamba Osaka, in the Japanese Football League (J-League). Ricky was one of the players representing Indonesia with the national U-23 team at various international leagues from 1985 to 1990.

He was most noted for leading the national soccer team that won gold at 1987 Southeast Asian Games held in Jakarta, the first-ever gold medal won by the team. (ami)

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