Agum Gumelar: "Drown Maldives!"

April 7, 2001

Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) Chairman Agum Gumelar has asked Bima Sakti and friends to 'drown' Maldives in their first 2002 World Cup qualifier on Sunday (4/8) at Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta.

"They only have 250,000 people, compared to our more than 200,000 millions. It's unthinkable that we cannot defeat them," said the Chairman on Friday (4/6) in Santika Hotel, Jakarta. In this occasion, he was officially releasing the national team to the World qualifiers.

According to Agum, Maldives deserves to be called the 'Dark Horse' in the group after their excellent 6-0 thrasing of Cambodia. But he insists that this should be an even more motivation the Indonesian national team players to prove that they're still far better than the small islands country in Indian Ocean.

"Kurniawan, Bambang, Gendut Donny, score as many goals as possible at them! Play with the Red-and-White spirit that will never stop torturing their defense, that will never stop giving your best until the final whistle!" shouted Agum.

As a comment to Agum's call, skipper Bima Sakti said that all the players are now ready and red-hot for the match, and will fight to their last to defend the country's honor in the middle of her miserable times.

"We can only show our duties to country though football. We're proud to be the nation's messengers, and we will fight all we have on the field," said Bima.

Bima asks every football fan in the country, especially those who will attend the match at the stadium, to give their full supports.

"We ask for prayers from all Indonesians. We will never give up, we will give our best on the field, including against China. There's no 'losing before fighting' against them, at the least we will give them troubles until the very last second," continued Bima.

Bima's teammate in Primavera team and PSM Makassar, striker Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, added that the biggest satisfaction for any national athlete is to know that all Indonesian are behind them, supporting them every step of the way.

"We really need the support from everybody, so that all the players on the field will feel 'burned', double their effort, and never give up. As a return, we will give our best," promised Kurniawan.

Head coach Benny Dollo reminds everyone that the current national team might have been prepared in such a short time, but it's in no way inferior to past national teams.

"If we want to talk about quality, then we have to admit that there need to be major improvements as a whole in our football organization, competitions, etc. But now the matches are days away, so there's no sense in talking about their quality. With a great fighting spirit, then I hope all the players will be able to set themselves lose and give their best," said Benny.

from PSSI Website (4/6/01)