Ahmad Bustomi (midfielder) and Ricardo Salampessy (back) will not be able to join the Indonesian team on Monday night in Manahan stadium, Solo, Central Java, because they are still ill, said the Indonesian team`s senior assistant coach, Liestiadi, in Solo on Sunday (Aug 21,2011).
"Only 20 players have been prepared to play against the Palestinian team," Liestiadi said, adding that the other nine players will not use the Indonesian costumes including the two players who are sick.
According to him, in its try-out match against the Palestinian team, the national team will not focus on which team will lose or win, but only try to find the good composition of the team or how to place the right players in a bid to implement its strategy.
The target of the Indonesian national team is the match against the host Iran (on September 2), and how the team can steal the points in the away match, he said.
"We don`t want to win at the try-out match only, and lose in Iran," he said.
Thus, the national team will continue making correction from the try-out match and at present the players` physical condition has improved about 40 percent, he said.
The Indonesian national team, according to him, should be in good physical condition to play against Iran, and of course also apply the right tactics and strategy.
"We should be smarter in playing football, how to save energy for 90 minutes and how to penetrate our opponent`s goal," Liestiadi said.
He also explained "We must be able to strike, play effectively and efficiently."
Meanwhile, the senior national team captain, Firman Utina regretted that midfielder Ahmad Bustomi cannot play due to his illness. However, some other players can replace Bustomi, he said.
"We are still blind about the Palestinian team`s strength because we have never met them before," Utina said.
In the meantime, the Palestinian team players who were trained by coach Abdalnasser S.H. Barakat, held exercises at the Manahan stadium at 8.00 pm local time which was closed to journalists.
Palestinian coach Abdalnasser S.H. Barakat said, his team would show its best performance in playing against the Indonesian team.
"Our team will field many players under the age of 23 years in playing against the Indonesian team," the Palestinian coach said.
Following its try-out match against the Palestinian team in Solo, the Indonesian team will play against Jordan in Oman on August 27.
The Palestinian national team arrived in Jakarta with 21 players on Saturday night.
After arriving in Jakarta, the Palestinian team accompanied by eight officials and led by Mohammed Abu Srour proceeded to Solo.
Media officer of the All-Indonesia Soccer Association (PSSI) Asep Saputra said on Friday that most of the Palestinian players who came to Solo recently played against Thailand in the second round of the Pre-World Cup 2014 for the Asian Zone.
They include standard-bearer players such as Mohammes A Shabir, Khader Y A, Abuhammad and striker Fahed A F Attal.
In the second round of the Pre-World Cup 2014 the Palestinian team coached by Bezaz Moussa surrendered to Thailand 2-3 on aggregate. They played to a 2-2 draw in a home match at Faisal Al Huseini Stadium and lost to Thailand in the away match in Bangkok 0-1.
The match against the Palestinian team in Solo on Monday would be the last trial match at home for the national team players coached by Wim Rijsbergen before playing against Jordan.
After the match in Oman the national team would officially enter the third round of the Pre-World Cup 2014 against Iran in Teheran on September 2.
Prior to its match against Palestinian team, the Indonesian senior national team shared a 1-1 draw against its junior team of under 23 yars of age (U-23) in the Manahan stadium Solo on Thursday (Aug 18) night.
Commenting on the draw results, the All-Indonesia Soccer Association (PSSI) executive committee coordinator for the national team division affairs, Bob Hippy was not yet satisfied to see the results of the friendly match.
"I am not satisfied to see the senior team achievement, they still lack of a neat play and lose the ball too fast," Bob said.
In the friendly match, the U-23 national team scored first by Septia Hadi in the 25th minute, then the goal for the senior national team created by Bambang Pamungkas through penalty kick in the 59th minute.
In the first leg of the next Pre-World Cup 2014 round Group E, the national team would face Iran which is believed to be the strongest opponent in the group.
In a tossup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil recently, the Indonesian soccer team was put in Group E along with Iran, Qatar and Bahrain.
According to Liestiadi, the national team will continue doing exercises in the training camp in Solo until its departure to Jordan.
Although the meet between the Indonesian and the Palestinian teams on Monday night is a try-out match , the public especially the country`s soccer fans of course hope that Firman Utina and his friends can win the game.
(T.B003/HAJM/H-YH)
Reporter: by Bustanuddin
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
