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)