Withe hopes players keep winning run in Tiger Cup
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia is set to host Malaysia in the semifinals of the Tiger Cup at the Bung Karno Stadium here on Wednesday with coach Peter Withe expecting his players to continue their dazzling form from the group matches.
Drawn with host nation Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia and Laos, Indonesia emerged Group A winners with 10 points from three wins and a draw, scoring 17 goals against none.
One of the wins surprisingly came at the expense of Vietnam as Withe's team stunned them 3-0. Vietnam crashed out, handing the second semifinal spot to runners-up Singapore.
The Group B matches in Kuala Lumpur had also upsets with defending champions Thailand that Withe steered to Tiger Cup glory twice exited ignominiously.
It was Thailand's 2-1 defeat to Malaysia that doomed the Thais and that Withe wanted his team to learn from ahead of their semifinal match.
"Against Thailand, Malaysia did not perform well in the first half but did very well in the second half. They may do the same against us and we have to be on guard," Withe said during a press conference here on Wednesday.
The Tiger Cup is a biennial premier soccer tournament among Southeast Asian nations. It was first competed in 1996. Thailand has won three times, while Singapore once in 1998.
Indonesia's best performance was runner-up both in 2000 and 2002.
However, this season may give Indonesia good prospects following its high-flying performance during the group stage.
Indonesia finished at the top after a 6-0 and 8-0 drubbing of minnows Laos and Cambodia respectively, followed by a stunning 3- 0 win over Vietnam. They drew 0-0 with Singapore.
Malaysia booked a semifinal showdown with Indonesia after finishing runners-up in Group B behind surprise package Myanmar, which is now being trained by former Indonesia coach Ivan Kolev of Bulgaria.
After suffering a shocking 1-0 defeat to Myanmar, Malaysia stepped up with 4-1 and 5-0 crushing wins over the Philippines and Timor Leste respectively before they sealed their place with a labored 2-1 victory over Thailand.
"If you look at our statistics in the early matches, we scored 17 goals and conceded none. If we continue to do this, we will win the tournament," he said.
Indonesia will play on Wednesday without key players Boas Salossa and top scorer Ilham Jayakesuma, who were shown red cards during Indonesia's last match against Cambodia.
But Withe refused to panic, saying others could play stand-in roles in the absence of the two.
"We should not change our tactics ... My philosophy has always been the same and that is to try and win every match," he said.
Meanwhile, Malaysian coach Bertalan Bicksel hoped that his team would be able to shrug off pressure playing inside the Bung Karno Stadium that can seat up to 100,000 noisy fans chanting against them.
"We have experienced players and I hope and believe that they will not be influenced by the huge crowd," he said.
Hungarian Bicksel said that even without Boas and Ilham Indonesia would remain a strong team.
"They (Indonesia) are, without doubt, a strong team with some very good players," Bicksel said, adding that Indonesia's qualification for the recent Asian Cup in China also testified to the hosts' strength.
Malaysia will host the second leg of the semifinals in Kuala Lumpur on Jan. 3. Myanmar and Singapore will play their first leg on Thursday with the second leg on Jan. 4.