PSMS, Persebaya, Persija, PSM into league's final four
Apriadi Gunawan and Jupriadi, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra
The semifinal places of the Indonesian soccer league championship were all booked as PSMS Medan, Persebaya Surabaya, Persija Jakarta and PSM Makassar completed their group matches with a win each on Sunday.
PSMS became the only qualifier to finish with a 100 percent record after scoring in a comeback 2-1 win over Barito Putra of Banjarmasin in their last Western Group match. The Medan club will play defending champions PSM in the final four, to be held at Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Oct. 4.
The other semifinal pits Persija, winner of the Eastern Group, against former champion Persebaya, who finished second behind PSMS thanks to a sudden-death goal from Reynald Pieters in their nail-biting match against arch-rival Persib Bandung.
Persebaya struggled all the way against the Bandung side in Medan's Teladan Stadium. Despite a hatful of scoring chances for both sides, they were tied at 0-0 after regular time.
Extra time was needed to determine who would accompany Medan to the semifinals as both Persib and Persebaya had collected three points, with identical goal margins of 2-2.
Reynald sealed Persebaya's victory with his golden goal in the 112th minute. Dos Santos struck the ball against the bar and Reynald pounced onto the bouncing ball.
In the second match, PSMS, which had already qualified, fell behind after Barito's Bago Sadiso found the net in the 39th minute. But the South Kalimantan team's celebration proved short- lived as Cholin Misrun fired an equalizer three minutes after.
Ariel Guterres assured PSMS of its third successive win five minutes into the second half. The Medan side topped the western group with 9 points.
In Makassar, South Sulawesi, Persija Jakarta was held to a 2-2 draw by Persita Tangerang in the rain-drenched western group's match, which saw both teams playing with 10 players almost throughout the second half.
The result was enough to put Persija on top with 7 points.
Persija pulled off a 0-2 lead through Budiman in the 18th minute of the first half and Budi Sudarsono early in the second. However, the expulsion of Ebanda Timothy following his second bookable offense left the Jakarta-based team reeling for the rest of the game.
Persita did not squander the chance, with Ilham Jaya Kusuma scoring twice to equal the score. He found the net in the 16th minute and 43rd minute of the second half.
In between, the Tangerang-based team also had to cope with Nugroho being sent off following his professional foul on Budi Harsono.
In the other match, host PSM trounced Arema Malang 3-0 to earn 6 points. Kurniawan Julianto made a double, both in the first half before Brazilian Carlos de Melo completed the drubbing with a second-half goal.