By Ganesha Arif Lesmana (@ganesharif)
Arema FC quest to sign a new assistant coach to aid the head coach, Joko Susilo, is over. Milan Petrovic, a Slovenia-born coach was chosen by the Malang-based club as their newest assistant coach. Petrovic was already introduced by the club and ready to sit on the bench in the game against Borneo FC this week.
According to Ruddy Widodo, Arema’s manager, his team were looking for a new assistant coach to help Susilo. Petrovic was recommended by Dusan Momcilovic (Dule), Arema’s fitness coach.
“Since we’re going to face a packed schedule on Liga 1 and Piala Indonesia, we were preparing for a new assistant coach, Dule recommended Petrovic, and as what our CEO has said, we recruited him (Petrovic) to help Susilo in our coaching team.”
Petrovic came with a good reputation. He has bagged UEFA pro license, and he coached some junior teams in Slovenia, including the U-21 Slovenia, U-15 Svoboda Ljubljana, and women’s team of FC Olimpija.
Petrovic was recruited to accompany Susilo. However, as the head coach will take part in A AFC Pro training, Petrovic may step up to replace Susilo temporarily. The training itself will be started on April 15 and will last for at least one year.
With Petrovic arrival, Aremania will be hoping to see their favorite team perform better. From their two latest games, Arema didn’t get one single win. Their first game against Mitra Kukar ended painfully since their advantage was equalized by two goals from Fernando Rodriguez Ortega. In the second game, they lost against Persija Jakarta.
