Winning, National Team still unsatisfactory

March 27, 2001

National team for 2002 World Cup qualifiers are still performing below par even though they won 3-0 against Persita Tangerang on Tuesday (3/27). This is their second trial match after a little of more than one week of training center.

Even head coach Benny Dollo admitted that he himself was still disappointed about his boys' performance, especially about their stamina and endurance.

"I'll be the first to admit that the team's performance so far is still unsatisfactory. The fitness coach and the team's doctor have been doing their best to fix up the players' strengths and stamina, but as you can see, they're still not good. But we will keep doing our best. There are still quite a few things the team needs to learn, one of which is teamwork," said Benny.

In this match, not only the national team but also Persita's players looked like they lost all their stamina just before the match. According to Persita's head coach Solihin, this is because of the club's training regime that have been sapping his players' strengths.

Just one minute after kick off, the national squad already led the game after wingback Ismed Sofyan (Jakarta FC) caught a nice pass from midfielder Uston Nawawi (Persebaya) wel.. He then kicked the ball accurately into the net.

But after that, the team looked like they lost any playing pattern and their offense just started to decrease.

The second goal happened way later in the match, two minutes before the final whistle after a sliding kick from Bambang Pamungkas (Persija). This was after he received a cross ball from Firman Utina (Persita).

The last goal was scored by league's current top scorer Budi Sudarsono in injury time after a solo run past a few Persita's defenders, also including the goalie.

In this match, four of PSM Makassar's players who have been called to the national squad, goalie Hendro Kartiko, defender Ronny Ririn, midfielder Bima Sakti, and striker Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto had already joined their other teammates. They, however, were only watching from the stand and did not yet practice with the team because they're still exhausted after the Asian Champions Cup just two days before.

from www.sepak-bola.tv