Bored At Penarol

Hopes are high that Syamsir Alam will be Indonesia's next great thing. As part of the SAD project in Uruguay he impressed enough to secure a loan deal at Penarol, one of the biggest clubs in South America.

Now he has signed for Belgian side CS Vise who play in the second division there. He will be among friends as fellow Indonesians Yericho Christiantoko, Alfin Tuasalamony and Yandi Munawar at the club owned by the same people who own Pelita Jaya and Brisbane Roar.

What is worrying though is that in this interview Alam admits to being 'bored' at Penarol. If he's bored at such a big club after a short period of time then how will he feel at a pissy Belgian club he can't even find on a map?

It sounds like this young man really needs someone to sit him down and tell him in no uncertain terms how lucky he has been so far in his fledging career but there is still a hell of a lot of work to be done. So far he has achieved nothing. His profile looks good yes, but it still amounts to little more than promise.

Getting on in football is only so much about talent. Hard work and mental strength are also just as important. Suggesting you are bored at a football club will not win you any admirers among the football fraternity.

Alam was picked out for great things from a young age. Players like Bambang Pamungkas, Kurniawan, DY, Bima Sakti and Kurnia Sandy also went abroad at a young age but never stuck around long enough to make an impression, preferring to come home for the comforts of bakso and teh botol.

If Alam, and the others, is to succeed overseas then he can't go round telling people he was 'bored' at a well respected football club. Or he will end up as part of another Lost Generation.