Italian soccer team Lazio receives warm welcome

JAKARTA (JP): The Italian soccer team Lazio arrived yesterday amid tumultuous cheers by a throng of Indonesian fans who flocked to the Sukarno-Hatta airport just to see their idols.

The crowds, mostly girls, put aside thoughts of their Indonesian Uber Cup badminton team, which was fighting against China, and ran after Italian top-scorer for 1993 and 1994 Giuseppe Signori for some rare photos.

The hot reception gave airport security officers extra work helping the Italian team, led by its president Dino Zoff, get into the waiting bus.

Lazio, on an Asian tour after the end of the season, will play a friendly match against the Indonesian league's all-star team at the Senayan stadium this afternoon. The Italians played against China teams three times before flying here.

Zoff, a former Italy's national team captain, told reporters that he did not have any impressions about the Indonesian team, but he promised that his men would do their best today.

Zoff, who did not speak English, said that he did not even plan a practice before the friendly match.

Indonesian team members were picked by the public after a Star Wars match between selected players from the national league's Western and Eastern divisions.

Lazio will be without Argentinean defender Jose Antonio Chamot, who was called home for national duty.

The team also missed its foreign players Dutchman Aron Winter and Croatian Alen Boksic, as well as Italians Pierluigi Casiraghi, Diego Fuser and Roberto di Matteo, who are all preparing themselves for the 1996 Euro Cup in England next month. (yan)