PSSI denies treating Yemeni team badly
PSSI denies treating Yemeni team badly
JAKARTA (JP): The All Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI)
said yesterday that it had not treated the visiting Yemeni team
badly, despite a complaint by a Yemeni soccer official.
PSSI spokesman Tondo Widodo told The Jakarta Post, "It's not
true that we treated the Yemeni team badly when it arrived at the
Soekarno-Hatta airport or that we are accommodating the team at
an unrated hotel."
Yemen Sports Federation chairman Ali Ahmed Al Ashwal
complained Thursday that the team had received a cold reception
and poor accommodation. "We were not greeted by the host (PSSI)
and we have been given bad accommodation at an unrated hotel."
Ali said the PSSI had left the team to fend for itself at the
hotel.
On the cold reception, Tondo said that three officials from
the federation met the team at the airport and took them by bus
to the hotel.
"Our officials did not neglect them, instead they assisted
them all the way to the hotel. But it seemed they were at ease
with the arrangements by their ambassador who was at the airport
to greet them," Tondo said.
On the unrated hotel, Tondo said the PSSI had offered to
accommodate the team at the star-rated Hotel Indonesia, but the
Yemeni team had preferred Hotel Nirwana.
"They chose Hotel Nirwana, not us. As a host, we certainly
want our guests to stay in a suitable place and not in an unrated
hotel," Tondo said.
On Ali's statement that the team's treatment violated FIFA
rules, Tondo said that the PSSI had not broken any rules.
"The regulations say that hosts must only provide
transportation while accommodation must be borne by guests. I
don't see how we have deviated from the FIFA regulation," Tondo
said.
The Yemeni team is here for a World Cup Asian zone group five
match to be played tomorrow at the Senayan stadium.
The 20-man Yemeni team was selected two months ago. The
players are mostly around 23 years old, and they are accompanied
by 10 officials.
After the match against Indonesia tomorrow, the team will fly
to Phnom Penh to play Cambodia on April 20 in the first meeting
between the two teams in this qualifying round.
Cambodia will host Indonesia on April 27 in their second
meeting. Indonesia blanked Cambodia 8-0 in their first meeting on
April 6 in Jakarta.
Indonesia will host another World Cup qualifier when it meets
Uzbekistan on June 1. The match is scheduled to be held in
Surabaya, East Java.
The federation has yet to confirm the venue of the Indonesia-
Uzbekistan match.
ANteve will broadcast live the Indonesia-Yemen match at the
Senayan stadium tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.
Tickets cost between Rp 7,500 and Rp 30,000.
Practice
The Yemeni team trained at the Kuningan stadium yesterday and
will try out the Senayan stadium today as a warm up to tomorrow's
match.
Hazim Jassim of Iraq, the Yemeni team coach, told Antara
yesterday that Indonesia's strength would be the same as it was
when it played Yemen at the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates
and at the King's Cup in Thailand. At the King's Cup, Indonesia
defeated Yemen 2-0.
"I don't want to make any predictions now on whether we can
beat Indonesia but I just want to say that we have a special
strategy for facing Indonesia. Your team cannot be taken
lightly," Hazim said.
Before arriving in Indonesia, the Yemeni team had played two
trial matches in Saudi Arabia. The team lost to the Al Ittihad
team 2-3 and to Al Ahli 0-1. (lnt)