PSSI abandons Bali plan over Tiger Cup
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian soccer governing body (PSSI) has canceled the plan to stage the qualifying matches of the upcoming Tiger Cup in Bali due to the below-standard of the stadiums, a top PSSI official said.
"In the wake of the Bali bombing, we had formerly planned to shift the qualifying matches to Bali as a token of our moral support to the local people. But with only one month in hand, it would be impossible for us to make an overhaul effort on the stadiums," Tri Goestoro, PSSI secretary-general, said after a council meeting of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) here on Sunday.
Tri said the 10,000 capacity Ngurah Rai and Kompyang Sujana stadiums were still short of meeting the standard of holding an international tournament.
"Seat capacity are limited, the changing room and the floodlight system are below standard. We have planned to make an upgrade, but it would be impossible to meet the deadline with us having only a month," Tri said.
The 2002 Tiger Cup, the biennial soccer competition among the Southeast Asian nations, will be co-hosted by Indonesia and Singapore.
The qualifying matches will run from Nov. 15 through Nov. 23. Semifinals stage is scheduled on Nov. 27 with the final on Nov. 29.
Jakarta will host teams from Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar, while Singapore matches include Brunei Darussalam, Laos, Malaysia and defending champion Thailand.
The Indonesian team, with 24 players, was scheduled to take on the Singaporean team in Singapore on Sunday as part of the preparation, according to Tri. There was no detail about the result of the match.
"They (the players) will depart from Singapore to Sydney on Tuesday where we plan to carry out friendly matches with four local teams," he said.
Speaking about the AFF meeting, Tri said the ASEAN body had decided to include Futsal and the under-14 category in addition to the already existing U-18 and U-16 for next year's tournament calendar.
Futsal will be hosted by Cambodia and the U-14 by Thailand. Thailand will also host the U-16 with Laos, while Myanmar and Vietnam have been appointed to play host to the U-18.