Jakarta wins Coke Cup soccer c'ship

Jakarta wins Coke Cup soccer c'ship

SURABAYA (JP): Two goals by Sofyan sealed Jakarta's victory
over West Java in the final of the 10th Coke Cup National Under-
15 soccer championship here yesterday.

President Soeharto was scheduled to present the prestigious
trophy to captain Yani M. Yamin on Sept. 9 in commemoration of
the National Sport Day celebration at Istana Merdeka.

Yani M. Yamin and Sofyan were declared best booters and
received Rp 500,000 each. Sofyan was also announced top scorer
and pocketed another Rp 500,000.

In the playoff, East Java defeated South Sulawesi 5-3 (0-0) on
a penalty shoot-out through goalie Sutikno, right back Sudin,
stopper Shodiq, outside right Zainul Arifin and outside left
Iswandi.

"Remember what I told you on Wednesday? We regard ourselves as
an underdog team. So we play without the burden of winning
expectations. That was the key to our victory," Jakarta head
coach, Kunaryo, told The Jakarta Post.

Jakarta's strategy was "killing" West Java's playmaker, Nur
Hasan Basri, by assigning Eri, whom Kunaryo referred to as the
most physically fit player of his team, to tightly follow Basri
wherever he went. He was to block him so that he had no chance of
developing his team's rhythm into full swing.

"Basri is West Java's backbone. And Eri did his job
wonderfully," Kunaryo said.

Another Jakarta strategy was to position its left winger in
such a way as to anticipate a gap which might occur due to West
Java's attacks from the left side.

West Java's team manager, Akhmad Zurfaih, attributed the loss
to an anticlimax after his team played all-out against East Java
the day before.

"Our team's performance reached its peak against East Java.
Our players took on Jakarta with exhausted minds. They could no
longer concentrate on the game. On the other hand, Jakarta's
performance today was so different from its semifinal struggle.
They were simply better," Zurfaih said.

Jakarta owed its victory to striker Sofyan, who scored the
first goal in the fifth minute and the second in the 30th minute.
He made both goals with the help of teammate Imam Wahyudi.

Both Jakarta and West Java played a high tempo game in the
first half and slowed down in the second half.

Dominating the whole match, Jakarta was apparently more
versatile. Its players demonstrated passing and other maneuvers
which require accuracy and teamwork.

In the second half, Jakarta seemed to be exhausted and focused
on defense. West Java kept on attacking, but its attacks were
monotonous. They almost always came from the right flank, making
it easier for Jakarta to anticipate them.

Most of Jakarta's players flocked around the goal post in
anticipation of West Java's right-flank attacks. This defensive
strategy lasted until the middle of the second half until Jakarta
suddenly launched fresh attacks.

For Jakarta, this is the first victory at the annual
tournament, which is sponsored by Coca-cola. In last year's
tournament Jakarta finished fourth.

The win should also serve as a consolation for the suspension
imposed on Jakarta in 1992 because one of its players was older
than 15.

"We did not know that Deden, the player in question, had two
elementary school certificates, but the West Java coach knew
that, perhaps because Deden, like many of our players, come from
suburban areas next door to West Java," said Jakarta team manager
Sofyan Noer.

Even though they lost, becoming this year's runner-up for West
Java is at least better than the third place they took last year.
(arf)