Indonesia holds Qatar 1-1 in U-19 soccer tourney

Indonesia holds Qatar 1-1 in U-19 soccer tourney

JAKARTA (JP): A year of training in Italy was far from enough
for young Indonesian players, who started the season with a
mediocre performance in the 29th Asian youth, under-19 soccer
championship with a 1-1 draw against Qatar.

More than 40,000 fans had to wait at Senayan stadium for 45
agonizing minutes to make sure that their favorites would not
leave their first test red-faced. Thankfully, Kurniawan Dwi
Yulianto managed to even up the score nine minutes after the half
time.

Indonesia was in a state of desperation when Qatar silenced a
the fanatic home fans with a 1-0 lead in the first nine minutes
of the match.

The goal was a header from Jamal Khalil which bounced past
Indonesian goalie Kurnia Sandy, who sat and watched the ball eat
net.

Taking almost all the ball possessions from the onset, the
hosts missed numerous golden opportunities, mainly due to a shaky
partnership of forwarders orchestrated by Kurniawan and
Indrianto.

Only by luck did Qatar survive a close call two minutes after
scoring the provisional lead, when Indrianto's neck-breaking
header hit the bar and left goalie Ali Ibrahim dazed and
confused.

Fast moving midfield Nurul Huda squandered another chance to
tie the game in the 26th minute. Dribbling the ball into the
penalty box, the unmarked Nurul made a lame kick that was easily
stopped by Ali.

The long-awaited goal came after Qatar defenders blundered by
letting Kurniawan chase a pass. The striker charged through the
heart core area, chesting the ball before slotting it to the far
post.

Amid the thunderous applauds of the home crowd, a jubilant
Kurniawan shook his waist like Cameroon players do whenever they
make a goal.

Another Group A opening match was a duel of jerseys marked
number seven, when Iraq's Amir Mushrif Mahaisen and Kazakhstan's
Saken Kenetaev Iraq scored twice apiece. Dominating the 90
minutes of play, Iraq earned a comfortable 3-2 win to lead the
group.

Asian debut

Kazakhstan, making its Asian debut after breaking away from
the Soviet Union two years ago, gave a frightening start as Saken
chipped a blistering cross from Sergei Blokhine for the
tournament's first goal -- just a minute after Lebanese referee
Talal Saleh blew the opening whistle.

It took only few seconds for the young Iraqis to regain their
feet as Mahaisen struck an equalizer in the fourth minute 20
meters from the goal mouth.

Mahaisen, who was eventually named man of the match, found the
net once more, three minutes after the break, as Iraq continued
to press its never ending assaults.

Teams

Indonesia: Kurnia Sandy, Gusnedi Adang, Anang Ma'ruf, Eko
Pudjianto, Yeyen Tumena, Bima Sakti Tukiman, Nurul Huda, Ismayana
Arsyad, Indrianto, Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, Supriono

Qatar: Ali Ibrahim, Mohammad Ali, Rashid Khafila, Ahmad Mubarak,
Ahmed Lahdan, Abdulla Mohamed, Abdulla Eisa, Hassam Abulla,
Mohammad Naser, Jamal Khalil, Rahman Mubarak

Kazakhstan: Kyrykbaev Naken, Khamidoulov Rafael, K. Almas, Issaev
Nourlan (K. Bakhit 65th), B. Sergei, S. Alexandre, Y. Vitali, F.
Alexander

Iraq: Khalid Risan, Khadim Ali Salih, Ahmad K. Assad, Odai
Muhammad, Haidir Jabbar, Ahmad Tarik, Amer Mushrif (Hashim Salih
70th), Mufid Asim, Sabaar Majid, Ali Shnaiyn, Mohammad Hasan

Today's fixture
5.30 p.m.: Kuwait vs Bahrain
7.30 p.m.: Japan vs Thailand