S'pore tries to turn blind eye to local fans' antics

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Singapore's national soccer team is concentrating on winning the first match of the Tiger Cup final on Saturday, while striving to ignore the histrionics of host fans.

"We will try to win the first final match, as we always want to win every match we play," head coach Radojko Avramovic said on Thursday.

"We know there will be many local fans and their behavior, but it doesn't matter for us. We will concentrate on winning the match and satisfy them with our play."

He was speaking after Thursday's afternoon training session in Rawamangun, East Jakarta.

About 100,000 local supporters are expected to fill the Bung Karno Stadium in Senayan, South Jakarta, the same number who watched the first semifinal match between Indonesia and Malaysia on Dec. 28.

The match was marred by unruly behavior by fans, who threw bottles onto the pitch and set off fireworks when the visitors took a winning lead.

Indonesia's coach Peter Withe appealed on Wednesday to fans to behave during the final because hooliganism could work to upset the playing tempo of the host team.

As part of his game strategy, Avramovic said he would likely continue using three forwards.

He will take his pick from among Agu Cashmir and Noh Alam Shah, who have scored four goals each during the team's Tiger Cup campaign, Indra Sahnan, with three goals, and Itimi Dickson.

Cashmir and Noh found the net when Singapore defeated Myanmar 4-3 and 4-2 respectively in its semifinal matches.

Avramovic denied that his team was plagued by problems in defense after conceding five goals to relatively unfancied Myanmar.

"There is nothing wrong with our defense, what are you talking about? We scored eight goals in the semifinals," he said.

"We always try to score one goal more than our opponent."

Describing both squads as good attacking teams with many fine players, he predicted the first final match on Saturday and second on Jan. 16 in Singapore would be hard-fought contests.

Indonesia and Singapore played to a goalless draw in their Group A match in Vietnam.

Singapore triumphed in the biannual Tiger Cup in 1998, while Indonesia's best performance has been as runner up in 2000 and 2002.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) secretary- general Nugraha Besoes said PSSI and the Jakarta Police would cooperate to beef up security for the match.

"A total of 1,500 police officers will be on standby at the field, while military officers will guard the entrance gates. Some police and military officers will also be among the supporters."

He added there would be tight security checks at the gates for concealed fireworks and bottles.