De Porras goal earns Persija win
De Porras goal earns Persija win
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Argentine striker Emmanuel De Porras salvaged Persija's pride
with the game's only goal late in the second half as the Jakarta
club beat PSM Makassar 1-0 in their Indonesian soccer league
fixture at the Lebak Bulus stadium here on Sunday.
This latest victory means Persija has not been beaten in four
matches and stays in third place with 12 points, equal to Persib.
But the Bandung-based club, which beat Deltras Sidoarjo 2-0, has
played six matches.
Persikota, which routed Pupuk Kaltim (PKT) of Bontang 3-0 on
Saturday, tops the standings with 15 points.
On Sunday, playing without five key players due to
suspensions, Persija looked wobbly in front of some 30,000 fans.
With PSM also looking exhausted after playing five matches in
three weeks, the game was a poor one with both teams hardly
managing to create any scoring chances at all.
Persija was missing goalkeeper Mukti Ali Raja, defenders Aris
Indarto and Ismed Sofyan, who are serving a four-month suspension
for their involvement in a brawl with Persita Tangerang earlier
this month, while midfielder Ely Aiboy and Argentinean Gustavo
Chena were out due to injuries.
The match grew interesting only in the second half when
Persija brought Budi Sudarsono off the bench to replace out-of-
form national striker Bambang Pamungkas.
Budi led the Persija attack by constantly exploring PSM's
rear, turning the game somewhat livelier as both sides began to
be play faster.
De Porras finally broke the deadlock with his goal in the 84th
minute following a corner.
Agus Indra executed the kick and Argentinean defender Matias
Alejandro Chavez channeled the ball with a neat header for De
Porras to finish it off with a punishing kick into the net and
out of the reach of Sergio Vargas.
Despite missing five key players, Persija coach Carlos Cambon
of Argentina said that he liked the way Persija played.
"Both teams played the same 4-4-2 format, which was very
interesting," he said, adding that Indonesian teams typically
used 3-5-2.
Meanwhile, PSM coach Miroslav Janu of the Czech Republic
praised his squad for using the 4-4-2 format, and blamed the
defeat of too many matches.
"Three matches in six days? It is not normal," he said.
He signaled that the Indonesian league might be the only
league in the world to have such a tight schedule of matches.
"If you want to kill the players, then that's fine," he said.
On Wednesday, PSM will host Persikota in Makassar and then
entertain Persib three days later.
Sunday's results:
Persita 3 PSMS 0
Persija 1 PSM 0
Semen Padang 0 PSPS 0
Persib 2 Deltras 0
Pelita KS 0 Persipura 1
PSIS 3 Persela 0
PSS vs Persebaya (postponed due to rain)