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)