Indonesia hosts Malaysia in U-23 soccer friendly

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia will meet Malaysia in an U-23 soccer friendly here on Wednesday, with the host team planning to observe a moment of silence before the match and to wear black armbands in tribute to Kardono, the former head of the national soccer body who passed away several days ago.

The match will be played ahead of the Indonesian team's trip to Lebanon next month for the second-leg tie in their pre-Olympic qualifying match.

Malaysia has already qualified for the finals of the pre- Olympic qualifying without kicking a ball, after Turkmenistan refused to travel to Kuala Lumpur for fear of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The Indonesia-Malaysia game will kick off at 5 p.m. at the Bung Karno Sports Stadium in Central Jakarta.

The match will be tinged with sadness following the death of Kardono, the former chairman of the Soccer Association of Indonesian (PSSI) who died of cancer on Sunday at the age of 75.

Kardono chaired PSSI for two consecutive periods from 1983 to 1991, during which time Indonesian soccer made it into the semifinals of the 1986 Asian Games and won gold medals at the 1987 and 1991 Southeast Asian Games, in Jakarta and Manila respectively.

"To pay tribute to Kardono, the Indonesian team and home fans are expected to observe a moment of silence (before the match). The players will also wear black armbands," Nugraha Besoes, the match commissioner, said during a media conference here on Tuesday.

Malaysia arrived in Jakarta from Australia, where it had traveled for some overseas experience. The Indonesian squad would also like to go overseas for training, but so far has been unable to arrange a trip.

"We had the (Australian) tour three weeks ago and played two matches, beating the U-16 South Australian team 3-1 and beating its senior team 3-2," Satia Nathan, the Malaysian assistant manager, said.

Since its first-leg game against Lebanon in Jakarta last month, which Indonesia won 1-0, the Indonesian players have been busy with their individual club duties.

The players have not had much of a break to prepare for the Malaysian game, which could spell trouble for the players' fitness, according to Indonesian coaches Mundari Karya and Bambang Nurdiansyah.

"The players only had one day to prepare, which is not enough to reshape the team for the match," Mundari said.

However, he expressed hope the match would help him evaluate how the players had progressed since their match against Lebanon.

"Despite the victory (over Lebanon), their teamwork was poor. We will try to remedy the problems during the Malaysian game," the coach said.