PSSI announces punishments
JAKARTA (JP): The All Indonesian Soccer Federation (PSSI) has temporarily banned the national soccer team's manager, its coach and a defender from international competition for causing the team to fall into disrepute following a recent Tiger Cup match.
Newly appointed PSSI chairman Agum Gumelar, fresh from a trip to Malaysia, announced the punitive measures on Thursday following a week-long probe into the case.
Andrie Amien, the Tiger Cup's Indonesian team manager, and Rusdy Bahalwan, who had made his debut as the national team coach, were each banned from international competition for two years.
Mursyid Effendy, the defender who netted an intentional own goal that gave Indonesia a desirable 2-3 loss to Thailand in their Tiger Cup group match, was banned for one year.
His fellow defender, Kuncoro, who fed him a defensive pass, however, was cleared of any unsportsmanlike charges.
"If we punish Kuncoro, then other players who passed the ball to him must be sentenced too," Agum said, defending Kuncoro's exclusion from the sanctions.
The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) had asked PSSI to sentence Kuncoro but Agum said the decision was made based on the national soccer body's investigation.
Agum said, however, the three would be allowed to carry on with their domestic jobs when the league resumes on Nov. 1. Andrie is manager of the Jakarta-based Pelita Jaya team. Rusdy and Mursyid will take their old posts at Persebaya Surabaya.
The investigation concluded that both Andrie and Rusdy were most responsible for the own goal, although they never instructed the players to make it.
The probe found that Mursyid and his teammates were confused about the strategy picked by their coach and manager, who admitted they did not want Indonesia to win the match.
"What they did in Vietnam was really shameful. If they had a strategy to lose to Thailand, that was not the right way," he said.
Federation spokesman Tondo Widodo also said the national league would begin with a charity match on Oct. 28 at the Senayan Main Stadium.
Twenty-six clubs have registered to compete in the new season, the fifth since PSSI blended the professional and amateur sides into one league.
Several changes have been made for the new season, including the division of participating teams into three geographical conferences. The west and central conferences will be divided into two sub-conferences as well.
Tondo said the show would go on with or without sponsors.
"On Sept. 20, Singapore-based promoter Starpoint manager Steven Tan will come to Jakarta for an expose whether it has sponsors or not," he said, adding that Starpoint would not look for apparel sponsors.
Tondo also said that apparel-producer Olan of Argentina, which sponsored the fourth league last year, wanted to sponsor this year's league.
"They have promised to pay their debt to the PSSI amounting to about US$500,000," he said.
The federation stopped the league prematurely in May due to security reasons and a lack of sponsors. (yan)