JAKARTA - Inter won their first friendly of the tour but before the match even kicked off they had been won over by Indonesia's enthusiasm for the Nerazzurri colours. Sincere, spontaneous enthusiasm that Andrea Stramaccioni wished to emphasise after the game: "This tour is proving to be a marvellous, exciting experience. It's wonderful to see all these people so passionate about sport in general and football in particular - and especially passionate about Inter. It's a joy to see and this is what football should always be like. We're proud to be here and we've already taken to these people within hours of arriving here."
The Nerazzurri coach reserved praise for tonight's opposition, "because they played well, especially in the first half, with pace and quality. I was particularly impressed by their number 10, Andik Vermansyah, but I saw lots of promising players out there. We want to thank Indonesia for all the passion they've shown. They must keep doing football the same way."
Stramaccioni then turned his attention to his own team, which he described as "Motivated and alive, even if we are at the end of the season after a none-too-easy year. And what I already knew has been confirmed: we have some very interesting youngsters. Now we have to try and understand which of them are ready for the first team and which of them could benefit from gaining more experience elsewhere. We'll work on it with the aim of freshening Inter up and finding the right balance so that we can build for a great present and future. The club is working 24 hours a day behind the scenes to do the right deals in the transfer market. Coutinho and Jonathan? I haven't just pulled them out of the bag; the club was well aware of their ability. I must say that the directors did a great job of choosing which players to send out on loan once they realised there might have been less space for them here."
