Mexico, Latvia cancel Indonesian tours

JAKARTA (JP): World Cup qualifier Mexico and the Latvian national team have dropped their plans to play exhibition matches here against the national soccer team being groomed for the Association of Southeast Asia Nation (ASEAN) Tiger Cup in September.

Spokesman for the All-Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) Tondo said yesterday Mexico had pulled out of its Indonesian tour due to the cancellation of its Asian trip.

He said it was not clear why the Latin American team had come to the decision.

An international friendly match against Latvia will also not go forward after Indonesia refused its plan to send its second- string players, according to Tondo.

"It's not easy to synchronize our expectations with theirs after all," Tondo said.

Mexico had intended to study Asian soccer playing patterns because it is grouped with South Korea in the World Cup in France next June.

Tondo said Rusdi Bahalwan's Indonesian squad would instead invite the Chinese and Hong Kong teams to play here. He said the date for the two warm-up matches would be arranged later.

"We have written them and are still waiting for their responses," he said.

With the economic crisis crippling the country, the national soccer body has also canceled its outings.

"I think it's more feasible to have foreign teams here rather than to send our team abroad," Tondo said.

Indonesia will host the 2nd Tiger Cup finals, the second after the initial event in Singapore last year. The tournament will serve as a crucial warm-up for Southeast Asian teams before entering the Asian Games in Bangkok in December.

Tondo said Indonesia had set its goals to win the Cup, unless the National Sports Council would not allow the soccer team to play in the Asiad.

Coach Rusdi asked for extra time to train his squad yesterday in addition to the original six weeks requested by the soccer body.

"The players can only meet after the league ends in mid-July, while we need ample time to improve our strategy and techniques," he said.

Rusdi said he was optimistic that his team would take the Cup, the first international title for victory hungry Indonesia since winning the Southeast Asian Games gold medal in 1989.

The coach has named veteran duo and former national team captains Iswadi Idris and Ronny Pattinasarani to assist him. (emf)