Scorn heaped on national soccer team

Scorn heaped on national soccer team

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's sports community has expressed
regret over blatant gamesmanship by the national soccer team
during their losing Tiger Cup game against Thailand on Monday.

State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Agung Laksono
criticized the team Tuesday for tarnishing the image of national
sports development and displaying unsportsmanlike behavior.

"The case is a stain on our sports development. Our team came
up short of the winner's spirit every athlete must have.

"They may excuse it as just a strategy to win the Tiger Cup,
but it was unfair. By doing so, they violated sportsmanship
principles," Agung told reporters.

In a bizarre match between the two highly favored teams,
midfielder Mursyid Effendi scored an own goal in the dying
seconds to hand Indonesia a 2-3 loss to Thailand. Both teams
showed a distinct reluctance to win the match, which would put
the victor in an undesirable semifinal contest against host
Vietnam.

Despite his criticism, Agung said he would carry through with
his pledge to provide cash bonuses to the team if it won the
event.

"I'll keep my promise. But if the ASEAN Football Federation
scraps the match and punishes the team, the bonuses will go to
other athletes or teams."

Agung hoped the All-Indonesian Soccer Federation and the
National Sports Council would learn a telling lesson from the
incident.

"To reach glory, we don't have to sacrifice sportsmanship. I
call on all athletes not to spoil our own sports image."

But he asked the national soccer body to listen to the players
when investigating the case.

"Maybe they suffered a great burden of having to win the Tiger
Cup. Maybe the players disobeyed the coach's order or maybe
someone told them to do so."

Asian Games

Earlier on Tuesday, the sports council's deputy chairman, Arie
Sudewo, said the council's top officials would meet to decide the
soccer team's fate, including its chance to compete in the 13th
Asian Games in Bangkok in December.

"The council has not taken any official stance, but I
personally am very disappointed with the team's performance. Were
we so afraid of Vietnam that we sacrificed sportsmanship?"

Arie said he hoped there would be no ban imposed on the
national team so it could go on to win the cup.

"A victory looks to be the fairest price our team have to pay
for the shameful manner they exhibited."

The council's secretary-general, Rudolf S. Warouw, said he
switched the TV off even before the end of the first half.

"The match was very boring, so I preferred to go to bed. Both
teams seemed to lack the desire to win."

But he said the bizarre spectacle of two teams trying their
best to lose would not have happened if the schedule had not
allowed teams to know who their semifinal opponents would be.

Former national player and soccer federation executive Bob
Hippie said Indonesia could be penalized by the Asian Football
Confederation or world soccer body FIFA.

"How shameful. Our sports do not improve but decline. Our
sports officials must be held responsible."

The federation's spokesman, Tondo Widodo, said the national
soccer body would question coach Rusdy Bahalwan in connection
with the case.

He said he fully understood that an early meeting with Vietnam
was not expected. "But we don't want it that way. The players
were just insolent." (yan)