Indonesia hopes to bounce back against Cambodia

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After its disappointing draw against Myanmar on Sunday, Indonesia will be looking to secure three points in its second match of the Tiger Cup soccer championship against Cambodia at the Bung Karno Stadium here on Tuesday.

Indonesia, which is cohosting the biennial Southeast Asian soccer championship along with Singapore, was held to a goalless draw by the unfancied Myanmar in their Group A match, much to the displeasure of the home supporters who jeered the players and coaches off the pitch at the end of the match.

Aware that any further slips could increase the pressure on him, Indonesia's Bulgarian coach Ivan Kolev is urging his players to put the disappointment behind them and concentrate on Cambodia, which comes in as the lowest rated team in the group.

"I told the players after (Sunday's) match that they had to learn from the match and step up and improve their play. I encouraged them to play an individual game, but most importantly everyone must learn how to move as a collective unit.

"After the 0-0 draw, the whole team is determined to win and I am as optimistic as before that we still have a chance to become the champion," he said on Monday.

Kolev played down the possibility that the draw would deal a psychological blow to his team, saying his players were as mentally tough as ever.

"The team did not lose, did it? Why should it affect them? I see that they are still mentally tough," said Kolev.

Evaluating Sunday's game, the coach said the failure to defeat Myanmar came down to poor play in the midfield.

"I am not happy with how the midfielders played their role against Myanmar. But I'm sure they know what went wrong and how to patch it up. They can't afford to make the same mistakes when they take the pitch tomorrow," he said.

However, Indonesia could be in for a tough-fought match with Cambodia eager to make up for an embarrassing 9-2 loss to Vietnam in its opening match.

Having conceded so many goals, which appears to be a tournament record, Cambodia will have to make major adjustments to shore up its porous defense.

"I expect Cambodia will put more men behind the ball. After its game against Vietnam, it will be more concerned about its defense and I think it will be difficult for us to break in and score as many goals as Vietnam," Kolev said.

Cambodia's coach, Joachim Fickert, said his team had numerous problems in its match against Vietnam and urged his players to improve.

"There are obviously problems in the team," said Fickert. "We made a lot of mistakes and we have to do better tomorrow."

Also on Tuesday, Myanmar will play the Philippines, while Vietnam has the day off.

The Group B matches in Singapore will begin on Wednesday, with Singapore hosting defending champion Thailand, and Malaysia and Laos facing off.