Indonesia stuns Kuwait with draw in Asian Cup
Indonesia stuns Kuwait with draw in Asian Cup
ABU DHABI (AFP): Indonesia, playing in its first ever Asian Cup finals, nearly pulled off a major upset when it drew 2-2 with Kuwait in its opening Group A match here Wednesday.
It was a stunning performance by the Indonesians who had been expected to be the whipping boys in the group.
Widodo Cahyono Putro, of Petro Kimia Gresik opened the scoring in spectacular style in the 20th minute.
The 26-year-old cheekily met a cross from Ronny Wabia, who plays for Persipura, with an overhead flick left keeper Khaled Al-Fadhkli with nothing to do but to pick the ball out of the net.
Four minutes from half-time it was Ronny who got the second when Al-Fadhkli could only parry a vicious shot from Putro.
Ronny, named man of the match, made no mistake with his volley which flew into the top left hand corner of the net. The no- hopers were suddenly 2-0 up.
Kuwait, who qualified for the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain, should have pulled one back when Yousif Hassan Al-Dakhi broke down the left and sent a perfect low cross to the far post but Esam Sakeen, from only five yards out, somehow managed to let the ball bounce off his knees and over for a goalkick.
Minutes later Jassem Al Houwaidi forced a great save from the Indonesian goalkeeper, Sampdoria's Kurnia Sandi. Although Kurnia could not hold the ball, defender Yeyen Tumena was able to clear.
Kurnia, playing like a man inspired, saved Indonesia in the 44th minute, again denying Sakeen.
Kuwait pulled one back 17 minutes from time when Hani Al Saqer tapped home after the ball had come off the post and spun across the goal.
Kuwait piled on the pressure but Kurnia and good luck kept them at bay. Even when Sandi was carried off 12 minutes from the end with blood streaming from his nose after being kicked in a goal mouth scramble, Kuwait looked unable to end what was fast becoming an Asian Cup nightmare for it.
Seven minutes from time Khalid Dawood Bilal Fairouz was brought down in the area by Sudirman who had been a rock in defense.
Hussain Al-Halabeej made no mistake with the penalty but a draw was not what Kuwait had been expecting.
Indonesia's draw might well have solved one problem for the tournament organizers.
Kuwait had vowed to quit the tournament if it got to the quarterfinals and had to face Iraq. On Wednesday's performance Kuwait should miss Iraq, and the quarterfinals.
For the Indonesians, the win has created a headache for their journalists. All of them had booked their return tickets home for the 12th, when the Group matches finish.
If Indonesia can show the same form against South Korea and the UAE the journalists will have to rebook their airline tickets and hotel rooms until at least the end of the quarterfinals.
In another group A match, South Korea threatened to wreck the United Arab Emirate's party to celebrate the country's 25th anniversary before drawing 1-1.
For instead of ending all-square the match could have been 4-0 for the Koreans, who in a pulsating 20-minute spell in the first half squandered chance after chance.
It took only nine minutes for Hawang Sun Hong to put the strongly fancied Koreans into the lead when his left-footed shot gave UAE goalkeeper Muhsin Musabeh no chance.
With Shin Hong-gi wreaking havoc with his bursts deep from defense down the right the UAE defence was in all sorts of trouble trying to contain the Koreans three-man strike force.
But Hawang and Kim Do Hoon all missed the easiest of chances.
A cross from Hwang on the right in the 18th minute found Ko Jeong Woon all alone in the middle of the penalty area but somehow Ko managed to steer the ball wide.
Ko had another chance minutes later, but this time Musabeh pulled off a stunning save, diving low to his right to stop a certain goal.
Results
Group A UAE 1 (Mubarak 40) South Korea 1 (Hwang 9) Indonesia 2 (Putro 20, Wabia 41) Kuwait 2 (Al Saqer 63, Al Halabeej 83pen))
Standings UAE 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 South Korea 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 Indonesia 1 0 1 0 2 2 1 Kuwait 1 0 1 0 2 2 1