RI books berth in Asian Cup finals
RI books berth in Asian Cup finals
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian soccer team cruised into the
Asian Cup final in Lebanon in November 2000 with a crushing 9-2
defeat of Cambodia in their Group 7 prequalification match at
Senayan soccer stadium on Sunday.
Indonesia's star striker Rocky Puttiray kicked off the goal
deluge by scoring two minutes after referee Krishnan Manoharan
blew the opening whistle. The 29-year-old Ambon native scored
another goal in the 38th minute to seal Indonesia's victory.
Rocky scored a total of seven goals in the prequalifying
round.
Teammates Eko Purjianto, Imran Nahumarury, Uston Nawawi and
Widodo Cahyono Putro added one goal each in the 15th, 33rd, 40th
and 80th minutes respectively. The youngest member of the team,
Bambang Pamungkas, 19, contributed two goals in the 53rd and 62nd
minutes.
Veteran Cambodian striker Hok Sochetra scored two goals to
help his team retain some pride. Hok was awarded a penalty shot
in the 13th minute after Indonesian defender Nur'alim tackled the
Cambodian in the penalty box. Nur'alim also received a yellow
card for the ill-advised tackle.
Hok produced his second goal in the 54th minute.
Cambodia coach Joachim Fickert of Germany blamed his team's
failure on its lack of experience.
"My players were not playing with their heads, compared to the
Indonesian team. The biggest difficulty is that our players are
not yet able to anticipate the critical situation when they are
under pressure. They made too many individual mistakes," Ficker
said.
Indonesia coach Nandar Iskandar was pleased to accomplish his
task of leading Indonesia to the Asian Cup final.
"We already knew the Cambodian players' skills were below
ours. Now the national team has qualified for the Asian Cup final
and I hand over the responsibility of training the team to the
Soccer Association of Indonesia," he said.
Nandar singled out the performance of the red-and-white-haired
Rocky for compliment.
"I have a good word for Rocky: he is our number one striker,"
he said.
During the postgame media conference, Rocky thanked God for
his performance.
"This is a blessing from God. I might have finally matured
this year. When I was a member of the 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA)
Games team, I hardly got a chance to perform and to improve my
skills. I'm not saying bad things about (SEA Games coach) Bernard
Schumm, but Pak Nandar has given me and the other players the
opportunity to improve our technical skills," he said.
Rocky said he was ready to sign a deal with either Home United
or Tampines of Singapore.
"I'm waiting for a letter of recommendation from Persija
(where Rocky currently plays). Home United will give me a tryout
in December, and is now waiting for the letter from Persija," he
said. (ivy)
Standings: (games, wins, draws, losses, points, average points)
Indonesia (4 games, 3 wins, 1 draws, 0 losses, 18-5 points, 10
average points); Hong Kong (4 games, 2 wins, 1 draws, 1 losses,
7-5 points, 7 average points); Cambodia (4 games, -, -, 4 losses,
4-19 points, 4 average points).