New recruits unlikely for Asia Nations Cup

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian national soccer team coach Danurwindo yesterday dismissed speculation that he would add more strikers to his Asia Nations Cup squad following two straight losses in their international friendlies in Genoa, Italy, last week.

Pressure has been mounting here that Danurwindo should call up Pelita Jaya's Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto and Mastrans Bandung Raya's Peri Sandria to give extra firepower to his team's front line .

"I and manager Agil Ali have never considered bringing new recruits into the national team. We keep trying to improve cohesiveness among our existing players," Danurwindo told Antara yesterday.

Both Kurniawan and Peri, the premier league's second top scorer with 23 goals last season, along with Eri Irianto and regular national team captain Fachry Husaini, missed out on inclusion in Danurwindo's list for the Cup finals for lacking defensive instincts.

Coach Danurwindo named 18 players for his squad, although the Asian Football Confederation allows Cup finalists to bring 20 players.

Danurwindo's side is midway through a one-month stint in Genoa prior to the Asian Cup finals in the United Arab Emirates which kick off on Dec. 4.

In its first two friendlies, the national team lost 1-2 to Moldova and was blanked 0-4 by Lithuania. The Indonesians will play their third of five warm-up matches against Estonia's World Cup team on Saturday.

Danurwindo appeared to throw in the towel before taking on Estonia's challenge, saying that he would not seek a win.

"On paper, it's difficult to beat Estonia which is in about the same league as Lithuania and Moldova.

"I prefer stressing building solid teamwork to just scoring a win," he said.

Indonesia will be in a tough Group A with Kuwait, host UAE and regular World Cup finalist South Korea in the Cup finals' round- robin preliminary round, played in Abu Dhabi.

The national team is to play San Marino and an Italian second division team before moving its training ground to Saudi Arabia a week before the Cup finals kick off. The Indonesians are also scheduled to test World Cup finalist Saudi Arabia's skills on Nov. 28 in Jeddah, but the head of the Indonesian national team board, Nirwan Bakrie, said that the match is unlikely to happen. (amd)