Where's Indonesia's place in Asian Cup finals?
Budi A. Sanusi, Contributor, Jakarta
We have every reason to heave a big sigh of relief with the success of our national soccer team in making it through to the Asian Cup finals in China next year.
On the other side of the coin, however, we too have every reason to feel despondent about how far the team will go there. Why?
First of all, the results gained by Eduard Ivakdalam and company in the recent Asian Cup qualifying tournament in Jeddah are not something that could do Indonesian soccer fans proud.
To be honest we only prevailed over two of Asia's minnows -- Bhutan and Yemen -- while we were completely outclassed by host Saudi Arabia, which is one of the continent's giants.
Indonesia beat Bhutan -- the whipping boys of the tournament -- by the similar scores in two ties of the round-robin tournament.
Considering the lightly regarded reputation of the tiny country near the Himalayas in this sport, Indonesia should have won by a much bigger margin. Then we defeated Yemen 3-0 in the first match and managed to scrap a 2-2 dour draw in the second encounter having survived a barrage of heavy onslaughts by the Yemenis in the last minutes.
The charges of chief coach Ivan Kolev were soundly beaten by the Saudis 5-0 and 6-0 in the two mismatches between David and Goliath.
We are very sure Kolev has known all along that the rivals in China next year will be those of the same rank and level of Saudi Arabia such as South Korea, Japan, Iran and China. This however should not discourage Indonesia from trying to make the most of its presence.
The players should show being there for them is not merely token participation, rather they deserve to be among Asia's finest -- no matter how small their chances are. The trashing by the Saudis should serve as a hard but valuable lesson to learn and make amends for the mistakes of the players.
Kolev is known as a cool character -- showing little anger, disappointment, happiness or sadness in whatever situation in and off the field. He registers no expression at all whenever his charges score or concede goals. His style and attitude I believe could augur well for cultivating an unwavering and never-say-die spirit and determination into the players.
Kolev certainly knows what to do in China next year. Having observed the team's performance in Jeddah the most glaring weakness is the defense line. Nur Alim and Agung Setiobudi were often caught off guard and a trifle late in containing danger.
These two defenders, both 31 of age, should quickly identify their mistakes or have their names axed from the list.
In midfield the tandem of Uston Nawawi and Budi Sudarsono is good enough with a small note that Budi, who is an attacking midfielder, should do his best to also act as a defending midfielder.
Uston should operate more deeply in the front line to help the strikers and provide assists. Kolev should include him in the starting lineup as Uston is known for his cannon ball shots and an expert in taking free kicks.
Eduard Ivakdalam, Eli Aboy and Kurniawan Dwi Julianto should be the first choice forwards. The hard-working Eduard and Aboy should sharpen their mutual understanding in beefing up attacks and creating goal scoring opportunities.
They should shift position quickly whenever they see it fit to score the goal without giving chances for the opposition to shadow their movement with or without the ball. Aboy should be pushed to optimize their dribbling skills in the box providing passes for Eduard or Kurniawan to do the finishing.
While Kurniawan, who does not have hard long-range shot, could make it up by his sprinting ability as he is known as the fastest sprinter in the team.
The trio will form a very valuable asset in the team if they could continue maintaining their playing rhythm, stride, cooperation and first of all momentum.
Under the bar, Jendri Pitoy should be kept as the first choice goal keeper but he should be urged to improve his reflexes in anticipating danger.
Lastly coach Kolev and his staff should not forget one thing, which if neglected and overlooked has the potential to wreck the whole system: the psychological factors of every single individual in the team.
No matter how small Indonesia's chances are against the giants of Asia should not deter the players from doing their utmost. With a bit of luck and great determination the chance is always there and we should not throw in the towel before the first whistle is blown.
The players should be reminded of what their predecessors did in the 1996 Asian Cup finals when Widodo Cahyono Putro and companions created a stir by holding highly favored Kuwait to a 2-2 draw.
Indonesia could have even won the game as it had led 2-0 at half time but Lady Luck seemed to desert the players and they had to settle with the draw. Indonesia finally bowed out of the competition after losing 2-4 to South Korea, which was forced to work extra hard for that narrow win.
At the end of the tournament the committee presented a special award to Widodo for his spectacular and beautiful goal against Kuwait. The volley into the Kuwaiti net was declared the best goal of the tournament.
Hopefully Indonesia's creditable showing in the 1996 finals could inspire Eduard and teammates to emulate what their predecessors had achieved, if not do even better.