Indonesia crashes out of Olympic soccer campaign
Indonesia crashes out of Olympic soccer campaign
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian Under-23 soccer team has crashed out of
contention for the 2004 Olympics after an embarrassing 5-1 defeat
by Lebanon in Beirut on Saturday.
Indonesia coach Mundari Karya immediately pinned the blame on
his players mentality and judgment, and poor preparations.
"We apologize to the Indonesia soccer community. We tried to
give the best we could, but the opponents proved too smart,"
Mundari said as quoted by Antara.
The Lebanese went ahead less than a minute after kickoff.
Indonesia drew level in the 15th minute thanks to Syamsul Bachri
only to watch Khodr Salame complete a hat trick with goals in the
39th, 46th and 56th minutes.
The hosts completed their scoring three minutes from time,
handing Indonesia a 5-2 aggregate defeat after Indonesian won the
opening match in Jakarta 1-0.
Mundari said Indonesia had learned a valuable lesson from the
defeat.
"When we suffered the quick first goal our players were not
affected given they leveled 15 minutes later. But, when our
efforts for more goals were frustrated by offside infractions the
players dropped their concentration," he said.
Mundari paid respect to Lebanon, saying the team, which had
prepared for five months and was boosted by its home supporters,
played well.
He said that lack in preparation and games against good teams
had contributed to his team's poor mentality as his players had
little tournament experience.
He called for a thorough evaluation of the team before it
heads to Vietnam for the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in December.
The team left for Beirut after an alarming 0-4 loss to
Malaysia in a friendly in Jakarta.
The win puts Lebanon in the final stage of the Asian selection
competition, which will feature 12 teams divided into three
groups. Only group winners qualify for the 2004 Olympics in
Greece.
Japan, Bahrain and Malaysia have already secured their final
berths.
Malaysia has qualified for the 12-strong final without kicking
the ball after Turkmenistan refused to play the first-leg match
in Kuala Lumpur last month, citing fears of the Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).