RI confident of outpowering Cambodia
RI confident of outpowering Cambodia
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian team captain Bima Sakti expressed his
confidence in beating Cambodia in the group nine match of the
2002 World Cup qualifying round at Bung Karno stadium on Sunday.
"We want to present the best birthday gift to the Soccer
Association of Indonesia (PSSI): a full victory against
Cambodia," he said, referring to the PSSI's 71th anniversary
which fell on Thursday.
"We have not lost to Cambodia in the last three consecutive
meetings. We tied 1-1 during the 1998 World Cup qualifying round
in Pnom Penh but we beat them in the last two matches in the
Asian Cup qualification last year and the Southeast Asian Games
in 1999."
Young star Bambang Pamungkas echoed the same optimism.
"Insya Allah (God willing), we can win over Cambodia. Since
1999, I have put six balls in Cambodia's goal."
However, Bambang was still in the dark on the visitor's
strength as it will field junior players.
The match organizers' chairman, Sartomo, said PSSI sold 30,000
tickets at a price that ranged between Rp 10,000 (US 90 cents)
and Rp 25,000 each.
The organizers will also ask the police to deploy 600 officers
to safeguard the match.
National team manager Irawadi D. Hanafi pledged to give a cash
bonus to players, should the team win.
"If Indonesia wins the match, each player will pocket Rp
600,000, while a substitute will earn Rp 400,000. The bonus is
the same for every match."
Cambodia arrived here Friday afternoon.
Indonesia is in group nine with Cambodia, the Maldives and
China. It will play China on May 27 at home. The national team
will fly to play Cambodia on April 29, the Maldives on May 6 and
China on May 13.
In Beijing, AFP reported that Crystal Palace defender Fan
Zhiyi, long the mainstay of Team China's defense, has been
excluded from China's squad for the first round of the qualifying
tournament.
China will begin its campaign in the Sunday match in Xian
against the Maldives.
None of China's overseas stars were placed in the squad for
the opening match either, although national team coach Bora
Milutinovic put the German-based duo Yang Chen and Xie Hui on
standby.
With the absence of the star players, the squad in Sunday's
match will look markedly different from the team that surprised
the region with spirited showings against Japan and South Korea
and a fourth place finish in the Asian Cup last year.
What many expect to see on Sunday is the young and
inexperienced national side that has recently lost a series of
warm-up matches, including friendlies with the United States,
Sweden, the Italian club Lazio and Crystal Palace.
Bora Milutinovic scoffed on Thursday at the rising pressures
facing China's qualification chances for next year's World Cup
finals, despite an "order to kill" from Beijing's bossy sports
bureaucracy.
After a year and four months at the helm of China's national
team, the man known around the world as Bora, begins his quest to
qualify China for the World Cup finals on Sunday. (ivy)