Indonesian soccer team wary of Cambodian strikers

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian soccer team plans to keep its eyes on Cambodia's strikers in their first meet in the Group B preliminary match at the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam on July 31.

National team coach Bernhard Schumm said on Tuesday that his players would have to play defensively should Hok Sochetera spearhead the Cambodian attack, as he expects.

Schumm said Cambodia would use the same team they fielded in a friendly match against Indonesia's pre-Olympics soccer team here in April. He also said that the team would likely apply a similar strategy in the biennial event.

Indonesia's pre-Olympics soccer team, consisting of players under 23 years old from various clubs across the nation, tied 1-1 against Cambodia in the first of two games. In the second game, the team gained a definitive victory of 4-0.

"More or less, Cambodia will field the same team and we already know their play against our pre-Olympics soccer team. They are good in their defense. But we have to defend against their counterattack. They have Hok Sochetra and some defenders who are tall enough compared to our players," he said.

National team captain Bima Sakti said that his team was ready to challenge Cambodia. "We'll improve our performance and try to beat Cambodia, which is one of the strong teams. The first victory is very important to us," he said.

Schumm will take 18 players with him. He had dropped two more players, Warsidi of Persita Tangerang and Eri Irianto of Persebaya Surabaya on Monday.

"Warsidi easily lost his composure when he was under pressure in the game. Besides, he's unexperienced. As for Eri Irianto, he plays very good in the first half but he has problems when he has to play for 90 minutes. I advise him to improve his basic physical endurance when he returns to his club," he said.

After the first match against Cambodia, Indonesia will face Malaysia on Aug. 2, Singapore on Aug. 6 and host Brunei Darussalam on Aug. 9. (ivy)