Five-star China break Asian Cup curse
JAKARTA: Indonesia scored a famous 2-1 victory over Bahrain yesterday to kick off its Asian Cup campaign in style as China made mincemeat of minnows Malaysia.
Strikes by Budi Sudarsono and Bambang Pamungkas cancelled out Sayed Mahmood Jalal's goal to give rank outsiders Indonesia the perfect start at a throbbing Gelora Bung Karno stadium.
It continued the flavor of the tournament that has seen unfancied teams pull off shock wins or unexpected draws, including Vietnam's victory over UAE, Oman's draw with Australia and Japan's failure to get past Qatar.
It was more routine in Kuala Lumpur where China ran rings around Malaysia in a 5-1 romp in Group C.
Han Peng and Wang Dong both grabbed braces and Shao Jiayi also hit the mark as the 2004 runners-up sent a message to their title rivals and eased pressure on embattled coach Zhu Guanghu.
"We played like an army," said Indonesia's Bulgarian coach Ivan Kolev after watching his side go top of Group D, with Saudi Arabia and South Korea playing their tournament opener on Wednesday.
"They wanted to win and they proved they can win. All of my players performed well. No-one disappointed."
He paid tribute to the fans, with at least 70,000 cramming the ground to witness only the second victory by Indonesia in three Asian Cup campaigns.
"Thank you to the fans, they made the difference," said Kolev.
The match was won in the 64th minute when Pamungkas was on hand to slot home the rebound after the excellent Firman Utina's fierce drive had been tipped onto the post by Bahrain goalkeeper Abdulrahman Abdulkarim.
Bahrain mentor Milan Macala was less enthused with his team, criticizing them for failing to bury their chances.
"It's simple. If you don't score goals you don't win matches," said the veteran Czech of a side that made the semifinals at the last Asian Cup in 2004.
"We had three or four good chances and players with experience like us must score. This is the reason we lost. There are no other reasons."
Pedestrian start
China coach Zhu has been under huge pressure after a series of lacklustre displays from his team, but they finally came good at the National Stadium, accelerating from a pedestrian start to halt Malaysia in its tracks.
But he refused to get carried away.
"This is just the start, this is just the first match. There are two more and I think the final result of the group stage is what matters," he said, praising his overseas-based stars for leading the way.
"We called back our overseas players - Sun Jihai, Zheng Zhi and Shao Jiayi - and they gained good control of the midfield and organized very good attacks."
Lowly Malaysia was always going to be the group whipping boys and they must now refocus to prevent any further embarrassment against Uzbekistan on Saturday.
Coach Norizan Bakar said they lost the match in the middle of the park.
"This is not a good start for us," said the 46-year-old of the lowest ranked team in the tournament.
"We tried to match the China team but China kept possession of the ball in midfield, so that is the area where they hurt us."
China are bidding to win their first ever Asian Cup after losing the 2004 final against Japan. But they have been unimpressive since and coach Zhu is under orders to reach the last four "or else."
The Uzbeks get their competition underway against regional heavyweights Iran today.
AFP
(China Daily 07/11/2007 page24)
