Indonesia, India draw in friendly

Eva C. Komandjaja, Jakarta

Indonesia and India, which are preparing for their World Cup soccer qualifying matches, drew 1-1 in their friendly at the Bung Karno stadium here on Thursday.

Midfielder Ponaryo Astaman put the hosts in front, ripping through India's defense with his header in the 33rd minute.

Goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee was left grasping at air. The visitors got an equalizer just one minute before the game was over, thanks to Jo Paul Anchery's well-taken penalty shot.

It was the second draw for India, which was also held to a 1-1 by the Indonesia's Under-20 team on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Indonesia launched attacks right from the start, forcing India to defend.

Unlike the previous match, the visitors started with their main line-up with captain Bhaichung Bhutia and Renedy Singh, the scorer against the U-20 team, spearheading the offensive.

Indonesia created many goal chances, with Ellie Aiboy and captain Agung Setiabudi close to scoring.

After squandering a rash of chances, the home side went in front in the 33rd minute when Astaman jumped onto a corner from Agung to break the stalemate.

India opted for a more aggressive style in the second half with Bhutia and Singh drilling shots from up front.

The pressure finally got so intense that Harry Saputra conceded a penalty shot after he tackled India's defender Climax Lawrence inside the box.

Referee Jimmy Napitupulu awarded India a penalty shot, which was successfully converted by Jo Paul Anchery just a minute before the end of the game.

Both coaches expressed their dissatisfaction about their teams' performance.

"I don't think we played well tonight and we didn't show a fighting spirit. We could have done more. However, looking at the positive side, we've created many chances during the game," Indian coach Stephen Constantine said.

His Indonesian counterpart Ivan Kolev lamented his team's lackluster performance, particularly in the second half, which he attributed to the team's decline in fighting spirit.

He said that it would be a difficult task for him to prepare the squad for the next game against Sri Lanka in the Asian qualifying round for the 2006 World Cup.

"One thing for sure is that we have to continue on the attack in the game from the very beginning just like what we did tonight," he said about their next game.