Indonesia draws with Iraq ahead of Independence Cup final
JAKARTA (JP): The first encounter between Indonesia and Iraq at the Independence Cup soccer tournament on Friday ended in a scoreless draw.
Although banking mostly on substitutes, Iraq displayed a cool defense to neutralize Indonesia's striking force of Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto and Rocky Puttiray.
A header from Rocky passed over the net and fell behind during four minutes into the first half. Six minutes later, Kurniawan got a feed and successfully penetrated the penalty area, but he was immediately blocked by Iraqi's defender Mahir Habib.
In the 33rd minute, Kurniawan collected the ball and blasted home a right-footer, but he kicked it past the net. Iraq responded with a counterattack, but defender Alaa Satar Jabar missed the net.
In the 72nd minute, striker Gendut Doni Ch., who was substituting Kurniawan, got the ball after it struck an Iraqi defender, but Gendut's attempt was not successful.
Iraq replaced Alaa Satar Jabar with striker Ahmad Khudaer about ten minutes before the final whistle but the decision did not bear any fruit.
Earlier in the day, Myanmar and Chinese Taipei were tied 1-1.
Indonesian coach Nandar Iskandar said he might have to make some changes to the centerfield for Sunday's clash after seeing captain Aji Santoso fail to escape Iraq's stranglehold which prevented him from feeding his teammates.
The coach hailed Iraq for quickly anticipating Indonesia's rapid moves.
"Iraq has understood our playing pattern. We used a fast and powerful type of play so they tried to slow down. And if one of our players got the ball, the Iraqis blocked all our players so they would not get the chance to touch the ball," he said.
He acknowledged that his team had squandered many golden chances.
"There were many times when we could have earned goals but the players missed the meeting point," he told a post-match conference.
He also said he would evaluate his center players. He hoped that the players could play better on Sunday.
Iraq's Yugoslav-born coach Barja Maric expressed his satisfaction over his players' performances.
"This is a very sympathetic match. We have only played with seven or eight of our top players. But Indonesia is a very good team with good players."
"There is no problem with today's match. The big match is on Sunday," he said.
Chinese Taipei midfielder Lin Kuei-pin earned the single goal for his team in the 58th minute. But 10 minutes later, striker Zaw Htaik of Myanmar headed the ball home for an equalizer.
Myanmar coach David Booth said his team had made so many mistakes but in the last 20 minutes, his players managed to increase the pressure.
"Our team is in a learning process as it is getting prepared for the 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games," the Englishman said.
Meanwhile Chinese Taipei coach Huang Jen-chen said his players gave in to the pressure in the last minute.(ivy)
Standings (P, W, D, L, GF:GA, Pts)
Indonesia (2, 2, 1, 0, 5-1, 7), Iraq (2, 2, 1, 0, 4-0, 7), Myanmar (2, 0, 1, 2, 2-6, 1), China Taipei (2, 0, 1, 2, 1-5, 1).