Thai players win soccer title, Indonesia gets bronze<\/p>\n
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Thailand showed its class in the
\nsoccer competition at the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games with a
\n2-0 win over Vietnam in the final on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The victory earned the Thais their fourth gold medal in a row,
\nconfirming its status as the strongest soccer power in the
\nregion. There were hopes that Vietnam could repeat its win over
\nthe same opponent in the Tiger Cup final last year.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, Indonesia won a consolation bronze medal
\nwhen it beat Singapore 4-2 on penalties. The match was deadlocked
\nafter both failed to score after 90 minutes of regular time plus
\n30 minutes of extra time.<\/p>\n
Indonesia played a lackluster game, with back wingers Agung
\nSetyabudi and Andrian Mardiansyah failing to feed the ball
\naccurately to strikers Rocky E. Puttiray and Bambang Pamungkas.<\/p>\n
Bambang appeared reluctant in developing the attack to the
\nSingaporean defense. But veteran Rocky still had enough energy
\nand motivation to break through the Singaporean defense line.<\/p>\n
Ali Sunan, who operated in the midfield, did not give new
\nblood to his striking partners as he used to. Coach Bernhard
\nSchumm set striker Widodo C. Putro in to replace Ali in the
\nsecond half, but the substitution did not bear fruit.<\/p>\n
Captain Bima Sakti, midfielder Haryanto Prasetyo, defender
\nSugiyantoro and Widodo netted the ball in the penalty shoot-out.<\/p>\n
Singapore scored through strikers Zulkarnaen Zainal and Mohd.
\nAzhar Salleh, but saw Indonesian goalkeeper Hendro Kartika deny
\npenalty kicks by Mohd. Nazri Nasir and Mohd. Rafi Mohd. Ali.<\/p>\n
Schumm praised the overall match, despite the disappointing
\nperformance.<\/p>\n
\"Every penalty was very good and the goalkeeper did
\ntremendously to save his net from the penalty shots. We're happy
\nto go home to Indonesia with a medal,\" he said in a media
\nbriefing after the match.<\/p>\n
He said the team had put its bitter loss in the semifinal
\nbehind them in Saturday's match.<\/p>\n
\"It's a kind of small final. The most difficult thing I did
\nwas motivate the disappointed players within 48 hours before the
\nmatch against Singapore. I told them that we have lost one time
\nin a good game and we don't want to lose for the second time,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The German coach also dismissed the request from soccer
\nobservers to resign following the team's failure to get to the
\nfinal, saying that he would continue training the national team
\nfor the preliminary round for the Asian Cup next year.<\/p>\n
\"I will be here to prepare the pre-Olympic team and train the
\nnational team for the SEA Games and the Asian Cup. There's
\nnothing more to discuss about,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Singapore team coach Vincent Subramaniam expressed
\nhis disappointment with the result.<\/p>\n
\"We were expecting to get the bronze, but we failed. I'm quite
\ndisappointed,\" he said. (ivy)<\/p>",
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