RI ready to beat Vietnam in Tiger Cup
RI ready to beat Vietnam in Tiger Cup
JAKARTA (Agencies): Acting national team coach Dananjaya was
steadfast on Wednesday that Indonesia could beat Vietnam's strong
team for a final berth.
"All the players have the same vision to win. They are
mentally prepared for the semifinals and will do anything to
win," he said, adding that the dismissal of coach Nandar Iskandar
did not affect the team's preparations.
Indonesia has a chance to take revenge on Vietnam in
Thursday's semifinal match in Bangkok. Vietnam routed Indonesia
1-0 into the 1999 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games semifinals and at
the same time buried Indonesia's dream of taking the soccer gold
medal for the first time in eight years.
Dananjaya assured that last year's defeat by Vietnam would not
affect his team's performance.
"The players can observe which teams had made progress in the
past few months. Moreover, the team's match experiences in the
Asian Cup final in Lebanon are enough to boost their motivation
to cruise to the finals."
Dananjaya will still rely on the duet strikers of Kurniawan
Dwi Yulianto and Gendut Doni Christiawan.
"I may consider to field Miro Baldo Bento in the second half.
In the last performance, Bento was quite successful in making our
opponent's defenders busy."
Dananjaya said he would be careful in picking the midfielders,
adding that he would try to block the Vietnamese in the center
field and deter them from breaking into the defense zone.
"There will be additional attackers to play in the midfield,
including Imran Nahumarury, Uston Nawawi and Putu Gede Santoso.
We want to play offensive soccer," he said.
In the defense zone, Dananjaya will field regular players Aji
Santoso and Ismet Sofyan as stoppers. Eko Purjianto or Jet Donald
Laala are the options to accompany Aji and Ismet. Should Hendro
Kartiko recover from his injury, he will be the first choice as
goalkeeper.
Team manager Muhammad Zein said he would take responsibility
over the team's performances, including Nandar's dismissal.
"Our main target is the final. I saw that we could play better
against Myanmar, when Nandar was no longer there. We want to
better our achievement in the 1998 Cup. If the team fails, I'm
willing to withdraw as team manager and national team director at
the Soccer Association of Indonesia," he said.
Indonesia crashed out in the preliminaries in Hanoi two years
ago.
Optimistic
In Bangkok, Thailand manager Virath Chanpanich is confident
his team can overcome Malaysia to book a Tiger Cup final spot.
With the exception of striker Worrawut Srimaka, who earned a
red card and a one-match ban in Thailand's victory over the
Philippines on Sunday, the Thais will have their full lineup
available for the semifinal here, Virath said on Tuesday.
"We will not have Worrawut because of the red card, but other
than that we have a full team and we are ready to fight against
Malaysia."
"We have prepared well as a team and as a host nation we
should get through to the final. We hope we will be the champs."
Virath said he was keen to see the outcome of the other
semifinal, where Indonesia meets Vietnam.
"If we face Indonesia in the final it will be easy because
they lost to us 1-4 in the first round, but if we face Vietnam it
will be an interesting match because their team is very strong
and well-trained," he told AFP.
Vietnam thrashed Laos 5-0 to reach the semis, while Malaysia
upset defending champion Singapore 1-0 to book its berth.
Vietnam coach Alfred Reidl said on Monday that the side had
achieved its objective of finishing as champion of the Group B
round, played in the southern Thai city of Songkhla.
"We wanted to avoid meeting Thailand in the semifinals and we
have done that. Against Laos we did not play so well but we did
score sufficient goals to top the group," he said. (ivy)