MALAYSIA will not be intimidated by the volatile Indonesian fans in the second-leg final of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) championship at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta tonight.
Coach K. Rajagopal said that his young team would have full concentration on the battle on the pitch and he was optimistic that with a 3-0 cushion from the first leg, they would succeed in the campaign to win the Suzuki Cup.
“We are not here to play for a draw. If we can get one goal more, it will heap more burden on Indonesia,” said Rajagopal in front of a packed media at a pre-match conference at The Sultan Hotel yesterday.
However, there are concerns over the “tense” situation ahead of the final match of the tournament.
Just a couple of days ago, a group of unruly supporters rioted and damaged several facilities at the stadium vicinity because they could not get tickets for the match.
The AFF issued a stern warning to the All-Indonesian Football Federation that the second-leg final might be held on neutral ground if there was more of such crowd violence.
There are also fears of retaliation by the Indonesian fans against the behaviour of their Malaysian counterparts in the first-leg match in Bukit Jalil on Sunday, sparking off reactions that Malaysia won the game unfairly.
Rajagopal tried to clear the air over the incident in Bukit Jalil when play was stopped for six minutes after Indonesian goalkeeper Markus Harison complained against fans using laser beam lights to shoot at his face to distract him.
“This matter has gone out of proportion and one has to portray sportsmanship when they lose and not make excuses,” he said.
Rajagopal added that Indonesia coach Alfred Rield was professional and said that the turning point of the first-leg match was the mistake of his defender, which resulted in Malaysia scoring the first goal through Mohd Safee Sali in the 60th.
“He (Riedl) offered no excuses for the defeat. Neither did I when we lost to Indonesia 1-5 (in the opening group match at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on Dec 1).
“I accepted it and took the heavy defeat like a man,” he said.
“I am sure our goalkeeper encountered the same problem then when we lost to Indonesia but we did not complain.
“We took the defeat graciously and bounced back to enter the final.
“It is unfair to accuse us now (of winning the first-leg final unfairly) and call us all kinds of names when we beat them on a level playing field.”
He hoped everyone concerned would put the matter to rest and let the two teams get on to play the game to decide the Asean champions.
“Let’s focus on the game. It’s all about entertainment and I hope there is no outside interference,” said Rajagopal.
Malaysia will not have the services of two players for the match. Midfielder Mohd Amirulhadi Zainal and rightback Mahali Jasuli are out on suspension and Rajagopal said that there were capable replacements in the team for the duo.
“We have managed to cope with a whole lot of injury problems with 10 key players not available for this tournament. I have other options to play in the team,” said Rajagopal, who is expected to start with Mohd Ashaari Shamsuddin in midfield and Mohd Sabree Mat Abu at rightback.
Indonesian team manager Andi Darusallam Tabusalla hoped the fans would behave and show sportsmanship.
“This is football and we are here to play football, not anything else,” said Andi.
The warm-up session for the Malaysian team yesterday was disrupted because a large group of fans turned up near the training venue (Senayan C).
They opted to train at a new venue but had to call it off after getting stuck in a traffic jam. They returned to work out at the hotel grounds.
Malaysia are bidding to win the AFF title for the first time since the tournament’s inception in 1996.
The young team have given gallant shows since the opening defeats by Indonesia. They drew 0-0 with Thailand and defeated Laos 5-1 in the other group matches.
Rajagopal’s boys went on to eliminate defending champions Vietnam 2-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals before handing Indonesia their first defeat in the tournament.
Indonesia had in previous matches beaten Laos (6-0), Thailand (2-1) and the Philippines (1-0 in both legs of the semi-finals).
Indonesia have also not won the Asean title before.
No comments:
Post a Comment