RI booters to play with China
RI booters to play with China
JAKARTA (JP): National soccer players will take some valuable
lessons in Beijing on Wednesday in the run-up to their campaign
at the 18th Southeast Asian Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Secretary-general of the national team committee, Endro
Sumardjo, told reporters on Wednesday night that the Chinese
Football Association had confirmed that its Olympic team would
entertain the Indonesians in a friendly match. It is not clear
where the match will take place.
"It's good to play a team as strong as China. They will show
us what our weaknesses are during the match," Endro said.
The match will be the first out of three warm-up matches
against foreign teams proposed by the All-Indonesia Football
Association before the SEA Games in December.
China is one of eight Asian teams which will be vying for two
berths to the 1996 Olympic Games soccer competition. Indonesia,
represented by its junior players who have just finished their
two-year stint in Italy, crashed out of first round of the
Olympic qualifying stage.
Endro said that the national SEA Games team will bring all its
20 players to China. The squad includes six Italian trainees who
also failed in the Olympic qualifying round.
The national soccer body sprang some surprises when it
announced the team line-up on Sunday, dropping premier league top
scorer Peri Sandria and two of three players from the league
champion team Persib Bandung. Persib's fast-running winger Kekey
Zakaria was among those dropped.
Defender Yadi Mulyadi is the only Persib player left on the
list. The soccer body will have to axe two more players by Nov.
15 as required by the SEA Games Organizing Committee.
Yadi will rejoin the team on Monday after helping his side
reach the Asia Club Championship quarterfinals over the weekend.
Persib beat Pasay City 3-1 in Manila, the Philippines, for a 5-2
aggregate win.
Persib is now traveling to Brunei for two friendly matches. It
held the Brunei SEA Games team 1-1 on Wednesday and will meet the
same side again tomorrow.
The Bandung team will miss Yadi in the Asia Club
quarterfinals, scheduled to take place from Nov. 26 to Nov. 30.
The Asian Football Confederation has yet to announce the venue
for the quarterfinals.
Romano Matte's men won all their four warm-up matches in East
Java and East Kalimantan. They will shortly move their home base
from Gresik, East Java, to Sukabumi, West Java to acclimatize
themselves to the cool weather expected in Chiang Mai during the
Games. (amd)