PSSI plans friendly match with Qatar

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After seeing a planned friendly match with Nigeria scrapped, the national soccer team now plans an overseas tryout against Qatar as part of preparations for the upcoming Asian Cup qualifying matches.

"We have taken Qatar as our warm-up match because it gives us a chance to experience the playing style of the gulf nations we will face in the qualifications," team manager Ismet Taher told reporters here on Monday.

The 2004 Asian Cup will be hosted by China. The qualifying stage, which will involve 28 countries in seven groups, is scheduled to run from August 2003 to February 2004.

Indonesia is in Group C with Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and will be joined by the winner from the preliminary match involving Mongolia, Guam and Buthan.

The Group C qualifying matches will be held in Saudi Arabia in October.

Ismet said the planned Qatari friendly could become a three- way, mini-tournament with Syria.

"Qatar will play Syria on April 29. They (Qatari soccer association officials) said that our game would likely take place two days before the Syrian game.

"We will talk the matter over on Tuesday. That we also play Qatar and Syria in a one-off tournament may be an option," Ismet said.

Qatar will host Kuwait and Palestine in Group B qualifying matches, which will include either Pakistan, Singapore or Macau, while Syria is paired against the United Arab Emirates and Turkmenistan, with the other team being either Chinese Taipei, East Timor or Sri Lanka.

A Qatar game may help cure Indonesia's disappointment brought about by the abruptly scrapped plan to host Nigeria's Under-23 team last week.

The Nigerian friendly game was to have been played on Feb. 25. It was canceled and then rescheduled for March 1, only to fall through with the officials of the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) citing that the Nigerian team had fallen short of obtaining air tickets for its 30-member touring squad.

Besides Qatar, Ismet said Thailand and Japan could be the next choices for the Indonesian team to hone their skills and teamwork prior to the Saudi Arabian departure.

PSSI is preparing 20 players under the guidance of Bulgarian coach Ivan Kolev. The players at the moment play with their respective clubs in the national league.

Ismet said that seven new names would be included in the team to enable Kolev to pick the best team line-up. He did not elaborate.