Home team sweept away from U-19 soccer semis

JAKARTA (JP): Evening drizzle carried Indonesia's boys away from the 29th Asian Youth Under-19 soccer championship yesterday as they ended their last Group A match against Iraq with an upset goalless draw after a hard-fought, nerve-wracking battle.

Playing in front of a 30,000-strong home crowd, the Indonesian boys, who desperately needed a win to march into the last four rounds, displayed tireless attacking soccer against Iraq's safe play. A lack of coolness, however, prevented Indonesia's never- say-die squad from scoring a single goal.

The hosts took most of the initiative, with Kurniawan Dwi Julianto and Indrianto setting up at least three golden goal- scoring chances for Indonesia in the first half and another three in the second.

Target-man Kurniawan yielded a thriller a few seconds from the break with a brilliant solo run to finish Ismayana's long pass. With only goalie Khalid Risan left on Iraq's defensive ground, Kurniawan squandered the chance as his cross floated by 10 centimeters from the left bar.

The 18-year-old striker missed another opportunity seven minutes after the interval when he hit another off-target cross, with Risan stranded in a daze. Too many missed chances drew tears from the eyes of a dejected Kurniawan as he left the pitch.

The young Iraqi booters, the object of jeers throughout the 90 minutes of play, got the most dazzling chance five minutes before the final whistle, when Shnaiyn struck a well-aimed, devastating shot toward the goal. Substitute goalkeeper Ari Supriarso became the hero of the game for his fist which sent the ball fly over the bar.

The Shnayn-led team, finishing second in the group, will join unbeaten Syria in Friday's cross-over semifinals. South Korea will meet Japan today. They only need a draw to qualify for the semifinals.

Trouncing

Favorite Syria celebrated another big win in the previous Group A match with a 6-1 trouncing of helpless Kazakhstan, with the Middle Eastern side scoring all their goals in the first half.

The skillful Syrians, who had secured a semifinal berth before yesterday's match, set out on the goal spree only five minutes after referee Daham Ali Kaidat blew the opening whistle with a 20-meter cannon ball from Ahmad Kurdachli. The prolific forward tallied his second after finishing a cross from Marwan Mouna with an acrobatic somersault three minutes later.

Trailing 0-2, Kazakhstan boys, losers in their two previous matches, gave a horrifying answer. They had Syrian goalie Anwar Seicho laboring with two saving dives in the 12th minute. Seicho survived another terror four minutes later when he slid to stop unmarked Saken Kenetaev from finding the net.

But it was Seicho's last dangerous moment. The Syrians overpowered hapless Kazakhstan with four more goals within 25 minutes.

Standings:

Group A 1. Syria 4 3 1 0 13- 3 10 2. Iraq 4 2 1 1 7- 4 7 3. Indonesia 4 2 1 1 4- 5 5 4. Qatar 4 1 2 1 5- 7 5 5. Kazakhstan 4 0 0 4 5-15 0

Group B 1. Japan 3 2 0 1 4-2 6 2. S. Korea 3 1 2 0 7-6 5 3. Thailand 3 1 1 1 4-4 4 4. Bahrain 4 0 3 1 4-6 3 5. Kuwait 3 0 2 1 3-5 2

Today's fixtures Thailand vs Kuwait, 5.30 p.m. Japan vs S. Korea, 7.30 p.m.