National soccer team spoils SEA Games campaign

National soccer team spoils SEA Games campaign

JAKARTA (JP): A red card, two yellow cards, showers of plastic bottles and jeers marred a 2-0 warm-up win achieved by the national team over PSIS in Semarang, Central Java, on Saturday.

The national footballers, gearing up for their trip to the SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand, left their assistant coach blushing for breaking their own "rules of the game".

Assistant coach Andi Teguh had asked the opposing PSIS team before the match not to play rough to avoid injuries to his national players. Injuries, he said, could seriously jeopardize the national team's chances before the Dec. 9 to Dec. 17 games.

The ugly scene started when Aples Gideon Tecuari floored PSIS's new Brazilian player, Arlison de Oliviera, in the middle of the second half. The 20,000 people crowding the Jatidiri stadium took instant revenge and began hurling plastic bottles at Andi's reserve booters.

Matters got worse when midfielder Agung Setyabudi was sent off for a second bookable offense, after viciously toppling another PSIS player, 15 minutes before the final whistle. The crowd exploded with anger, but security officers managed to stop the shower of bottles and other objects, which crashed down harder following the foul.

The national team should take the incident as a warning, Andi Teguh said afterwards. He admitted that his booters' skills, especially their teamwork, were still far from satisfactory.

"Many things need improvement. The boys are not very well integrated into the team yet," Andi said, adding that his team's readiness for the upcoming SEA Games was at about 70 percent.

"We hope to reach our best form for the games," Andi said. He added that in the tryout, his boys might avoid fighting it out in order to maintain their fitness.

The national team dominated the match. Pelita Jaya's Buyung Ismu opened the scoring for Andi's men with his sharp header in the 31st minute. Junior player Bima Sakti Tukiman found the net in the dying second just before the first half ended.

The Semarang team, however, replied with a number of golden opportunities. Its two Brazilian imports, Oliviera and Wellington Reis, repeatedly showed their agility in fooling the SEA Games- bound team.

Central Java's lack of composure eventually cost them all the chances they created. (arf)