Benny set on starters

April 5, 2001

National team head coach Benny Dollo reveals that he has already had his starting players for the match against Maldives on Sunday (4/8) in his pocket. His decision might have come from national team's last trial match on Wednesday (4/4) against Universitas Negeri Jakarta (UNJ) which ended in a whopping 13-0 for the national team. Even though the formation might still change, Benny has already had a clear picture on who will start.

In the first half of the match, Benny played I Komang Putra Adnyana as the goalkeepers, covered by Sugiantoro, Warsidi, and Eko Purjianto as central defenders.

In midfield, Benny played Yaris Riyadi, Uston Nawawi, and Bima Sakti in the middle, while Ismet Sofyan operated in the left wing and Agung Setyabudi in the right wing.

Up front are Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto and Bambang Pamungkas.

This formation proved to be successful. The teamwork has improved well since their last trial match, and the players seemed to understand each other. They scored six goals among them, though Bima Sakti (19'), Uston Nawawi (21'), and two each for Kurniawan (30', 35') and Bambang (32', 45').

Feel satisfied with the players' performance, Benny played an almost completely different team in the second half, with only goalie I Komang Putra still left to play for full ninety minutes.

Aples Tecuari, Ronny Ririn, and Sunar Sulaiman moved in defense. Isnan Ali, Supriyono, Maman, Firman Utina, and Seto Nurdiyantoro/Ellie Aiboy moved in midfield. Budi Sudarsono and Gendut Dony Christiawan, meanwhile, paired up front.

It turned out that this second-half team's performance was just as good as that of the first-half team's. They scored seven goals, with a hattrick from Gendut Dony, two goals from Budi Sudarsono, and one goal each for Isnan Ali and Sunar Sulaiman.

"In the second half, the players wanted to show that they deserved to be in the starting squad just as much as the players in the first half. They have very good fighting spirit, and this kind of atmosphere is important for our first match," said Benny.

from Media Indonesia (4/5/01)