Indonesia has special strategy to fight China

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian soccer coach Benny Dolo said he had developed a special strategy for his team's match against China in the 2002 World Cup Asia Zone Group Nine qualifier in Kunming, China, on Sunday.

Benny said heavy favorite China would employ the same strategy they used when the two teams met in the 2000 Asia Cup in Lebanon, because China was still coached by the legendary Bora Milutinovic of Yugoslavia.

"I understand how they play. I saw China's performance when they beat Indonesia 4-0 in the Asia Cup. They won't change too much because Bora has been coaching the team since the Asia Cup," Benny was quoted by Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) spokesman Eddi Elison as saying on Wednesday.

He said he had instructed his players to avoid making long passes during Sunday's match. He also told them to mark the Chinese players closely to prevent them from crossing the ball.

"I have also noticed that China's two strikers and two midfielders have excellent heading skills. I will ask my players to prevent them from crossing the ball."

Benny said he had received a summary of China's performance against Cambodia on May 6. PSSI sent its technical director Jopie Leepel and Bambang Nurdiansyah to observe the match in Phnom Penh. The two met with the national team at its training center in Singapore before the team left for Kunming on Tuesday.

"According to Jopie's report China is very well-organized, allowing each player to change their play within the system. When playing against Cambodia, China showed a good sense for attack. Their players always try to pass the ball by heading it, using their perfect physical stamina," Benny said.

When discussing his own squad, Benny said Yaris had recovered from a head injury and played for 85 minutes in Indonesia's 2-0 win over Maldives in Male last Sunday. Yaris was replaced by Ronny Ririn for the last five minutes of the match. "Yaris is getting better and he has no problems playing."

He also said he would not play Uston Nawawi against China because of the player's accumulated yellow cards. "I might play Matheus Seta Nurdiyantara in Uston's position," he said.

One of the difficulties facing the Indonesians is the low temperatures in Kunming, which is located some 2,000 meters above sea level. The team brought a sufficient number of oxygen bottles as a precaution.

Team manager Irawadi D. Hanafi said none of the players were severely affected by the cold. He said the temperature could reach about 14 degrees Celsius at night while in the afternoon it was about 20 degrees Celsius.

"All the players are fit. They can continue training as scheduled, but we aren't putting them through heavy workouts. We are gradually increase the training program based on the players' ability to adjust to the local climate."

Eddi quoted team doctor Harun Pardede as saying the players should be completely acclimatized by Friday at the latest. (ivy)