SEAG soccer team to start training in June

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian soccer team will start its training program in preparation for the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian (SEA) Games on June 17 at the Krakatau Steel training camp in Cilegon, Banten, team manager Irawadi D. Hanafi told reporters on Friday.

The team will move to other training camps either in Jakarta or Sukabumi, West Java, on June 28, before flying to Perth, Australia, for a 10-day tryout.

The team will compete in the Ho Chi Minh Cup soccer tournament in Vietnam from Aug. 10 to Aug. 18. It will also test its skills against Thailand in a friendly here just a few days before the squad leaves for Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 1.

"As the Bank Mandiri national league is temporarily disrupted due to security reasons, the players could speed up the training program to June 11," Irawadi said.

He also admitted that Indonesia's training preparation was inferior in comparison to Thailand's, Malaysia's and Singapore's.

Thailand has invited England's Liverpool -- champion of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup -- and Manchester United for a series of friendlies on July 19 and July 29 respectively. Thailand also plans for another friendly with German first division club Bayern Leverkusen.

Thailand, the 1999 Games gold medalist, defeated Singapore 5-2 in their last friendly encounter.

Malaysia has invited national teams from Slovenia, Bosnia, Bahrain, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and India to test its skills at the Merdeka Games from June 21 to June 30.

Malaysia is eying for gold in soccer. It has prepared itself for some time in order to fulfill its target, including hiring a foreign coach.

Irawadi said Singapore's national team had started a long-term training program in Denmark and Japan. The team has also left for Europe for a series of friendlies. Singapore lost to Fulham, who have just been promoted to England's Premier division, 1-5 but they managed to beat New Zealand's national team, which is competing in the 2002 World Cup qualifying round.

"We are very impressed with our neighbors' preparation but we are more impressive in terms of our short training period," Irawadi joked.

The other country that might pose a serious threat for Indonesia was Myanmar, he said.

Indonesia aims to finish a finalist. It only returned home with the bronze in the 1999 Games in Brunei Darussalam. Vietnam won the silver.

"We'll try our best to achieve our target. The first thing we must do is start our training schedule," he said.

Fourteen players were invited to join the training. Zainal Arif was dropped from the list because coach Benny Dolo did not need many strikers.

Irawadi said the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) has invited seven more players to the training. They are defenders Widi and Irlendi, midfielders Rahel Tuasalamony, Andri Budianto, Mat Halil and Ponario Astaman and goalkeeper Pitoy. (ivy)