Coke Cup soccer enters semifinals

Coke Cup soccer enters semifinals

JAKARTA (JP): Upsetting favorite champion Central Java with a
thin margin win of 2-1, South Sulawesi advances to the semifinal
matches of this year's National Coke Cup Under-15 soccer
championship in Surabaya today.

With the surprise win and making it as runner-up of Group L,
South Sulawesi will take on Jakarta, winner of Group K, while
West Java, which tops Group L, will challenge host East Java,
runner-up of Group K in today's semifinal cross over matches.

For South Sulawesi, the margin of just one point was exactly
what it needed to get a semifinal berth. For Central Java, for
which a draw would have sufficed to secure it entry into one of
the semifinals' four doors, the loss must have been really
annoying.

Central Java was openly aggressive and scored their first goal
at the 10th minute. But Sunday's dusk witnessed the favorite of
the match blundering.

The goal so boiled the blood of South Sulawesi's boys that it
managed to penetrate Central Java's solid combination of short
and long baits with an equalizer at the 26th minute.

Knowing that the draw would be enough to guarantee a semifinal
berth, favorite Central Java seemed to be so overconfident that
it slowed down its play in the second half.

South Sulawesi, on the other hand, took a totally different
stance. As if the match were a matter of life and death, they
piled on their attacks. But Central Java's goalie easily
deflected the onslaught of offensive maneuvers.

Then came the seven minutes to the final whistle which saw
Central Java's Wawan touch the ball with his hand, generating a
penalty.

South Sulawesi's striker, Tresna Yustisin, quickly grabbed the
opportunity of zeroing in on a penalty kick which tipped the
scales.

"The penalty was legal; one of our players did touch the ball
with his hands. Yes, we are the loser, but I'm satisfied with my
boys' performance. They have done what they should. The odds were
simply against us," Central Java coach, Edi Winarto, said. (arf)