Indonesia and Iraq vow to fight it out in soccer match

Indonesia and Iraq vow to fight it out in soccer match

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia looks certain to field a team of
mostly substitutes in its Independence Cup soccer group match
against Iraq on Friday, reducing the encounter to a warm-up for
this weekend's final.

Whatever the outcome is, Indonesia and Iraq will meet again
for the trophy and US$40,000 cash prize at the Senayan Stadium on
Sunday.

Host Indonesia, seeking an international title that has eluded
it over the past decade, has everything to prove -- its national
team is bound for the 2000 Asian Cup finals in Lebanon in
October.

But Indonesia coach Nandar Iskandar said his team would be
aiming at testing Iraq's strength on Friday.

"Iraq is a superior team but it will not matter on our path to
victory. We will observe their playing skills in our first
encounter on Friday. The most important thing for us is to win
the final match," he told a media briefing on Thursday.

He defended his decision to rely mostly on substitutes for
Friday's match, saying he wanted all players to taste the
pressures of playing at international level.

"Although I will field substitutes, it doesn't mean that the
game will lack quality. We don't want to disappoint our public,"
he said.

Nandar said his men possessed better individual skills than
Iraq, but admitted that their team work remained untested.

Iraq is in the process of restoring its international
reputation after a decade of international isolation. Its team
comprises mostly junior players who will represent their country
in the Asian Under-19 Championships.

"These junior players are also being groomed for the 2002
World Cup. We have chosen them for this match and they represent
the future of our national soccer team," Iraq's team manager
Waleed Tabra said.

Tabra asserted his team would fight it out to win the
remaining two matches against Indonesia.

"Our main target is to prepare them for the World Cup
qualifying rounds. A win will boost the morale of our players,"
he said.

He said that coach Barja Maric might field the team's best
players on Friday.

Maric said after defeating Myanmar 1-0 on Wednesday he had
benched five or six key players to save their energy for Friday's
and Sunday's battles.

Blessed with tall, quick players, Iraq is expected to match
Indonesia.

Myanmar play Chinese Taipei on Friday.

Myanmar coach David Booth of England was a little disappointed
of his team's performances here.

But he said the team's main target was to win the 2000 Tiger
Cup in November and the 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

He said the same team would compete in the Tiger Cup in
Thailand, while only some of them who would stay on until the
2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Kuala Lumpur.

"Next we want to win the SEA Games gold medal. If we don't win
we will waste much time. We have to believe that if we go to the
SEA Games we are well-prepared," he said. (ivy)