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