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)