Mastrans, PSM may still meet in soccer league final
JAKARTA (JP): Yesterday's draw decided that Indonesia's two representative teams in Asian soccer, PSM Ujungpandang and Mastrans Bandung Raya, will not face each other in the semifinals of the national soccer league, leaving open the chance that these two top teams will meet in the national league final.
PSM, a first-round victim in the Asian Champions Cup, will play Persipura Jayapura in one of tomorrow's semifinals for a place in Sunday's final. The other semifinal will pit Mastrans, a Cup Winners Cup second-round loser, against Mitra Surabaya.
"I guarantee there were no attempts to engineer the draw. Everything went fairly," said All-Indonesia Football Association Secretary-general Nugraha Besoes who led the draw.
Rumors spread prior to the draw that the association was keen to split PSM and Mastrans in the semifinals to gain extra income from tickets sales. The association's revenue is expected to soar if the two favorites meet in Sunday's final.
The association and the championships' promoter PT Citra Cipta Sports will gain the lion's share of sevenue from tickets sales for the matches on Friday and Sunday.
PSM, which made an early exit from the Asian Champions Cup after losing to South Korea's Pohang Atoms last month, was disappointed by the draw.
"We didn't expect to meet Persipura in the semifinals," PSM manager Mohammad Basri said. Basri's side beat the team from the country's easternmost province 1-0 en route to its group win in the final-12 round of the national championships last week.
Persipura welcomed the draw cautiously. "We lost to PSM in the round-robin group match but qualified for the semifinals. It's time for revenge because we can no longer rely on luck," Persipura manager Tumpak Sihite said.
Exhaustion
Mastrans must put its upset Cup Winners Cup departure behind it in tomorrow's semifinal. The Bandung side staged a 45-minute sit-in strike to protest what it said was "unfair refereeing" in its 0-4 defeat to South China in Hong Kong on Sunday. South China marched into the third round of the cup with a 5-1 aggregate win.
"We are extremely exhausted after the tiring final-12 round matches and the Asian tour. But this is no reason to lose tomorrow's match," Mastrans coach Tri Gustoro said.
The Surabaya club Mitra promised to play its best to emulate East Java's soccer triumph in the 14th National Games. It also has the burden of shaping up to East Java's solid record in the national league.
Petrokimia Putra of Gresik, East Java, reached the final last year, but lost 0-1 to Persib Bandung. Both of last year's finalists were eliminated in this year's final-12 round.
Mitra's campaign was boosted when East Java Governor Basofi Sudirman offered each player Rp 10 million in cash should the team return home with the coveted President's Cup trophy.
East Java Deputy Governor Abdul Hamid said Tuesday, in his message to the departing Surabaya team, that the bonuses would be paid from Basofi's and the Surabaya mayor's private bank accounts. (amd)