JAKARTA (21 June 2011) – With Persipura Jayapura already confirmed as the winners of the Indonesia Super League (ISL) 2011, the final match day of the league season this week saw former champions Arema Indonesia finishing second to assure themselves of a place in next season’s AFC Champions League.
Arema’s 8-0 mauling of basement side Bontang FC at home in Malang in East Java was the clincher as it allowed them to finish ahead of Persija Jakarta who had to settle for third in the final league standings.
Persija delivered what was expected of them in their final game of the season when they disposed of PSPS Pekanbaru 3-0 at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.
Both Arema and Persija finished level on 52 points but the former surged ahead on better goal difference with 27 as against te latter’s 24 goals.
“They wanted to win very badly, and they ended up playing careless football,” said Persija coach Rahmad Darmawan.
“It’s football. You could have 15 chances and still get only three goals. Today the boys played with a lot of heart. They didn’t care about the other match that was going on in other places,” he added. “Even though we placed third, I’m still thankful with the result. I hope we can still play in the AFC Cup.”
Persipura Jayapura ended the season with 60 points following their 1-1 draw against Semen Padang in their final game of the season while in the other matches, saw Persib Bandung thumped Deltras Sidoarjo 4-0 as Sriwijaya FC drew 0-0 with Persela Lamongan.
FINAL INDONESIA SUPER LEAGUE 2011 STANDINGS
P W D L F A Pts
1 PERSIPURA 28 17 9 2 63 23 60
2 AREMA INDONESIA 28 15 7 6 52 25 52
3 PERSIJA 28 15 7 6 52 28 52
4 SEMEN PADANG 28 12 12 4 41 27 48
5 SRIWIJAYA FC 28 13 7 8 43 32 46
6 PERSISAM 28 13 3 12 39 45 42
7 PERSIB 28 11 6 11 44 43 39
8 PERSIWA 28 10 8 10 43 50 38
9 PERSELA 28 10 7 11 30 31 37
10 PERSIBA BALIKPAPAN 28 9 7 12 41 44 34
11 PSPS 28 10 3 15 38 47 33
12 PELITA JAYA 28 8 5 15 31 36 29
13 DELTRAS 28 9 2 17 34 52 29
14 PERSIJAP 28 7 7 14 28 50 28
15 BONTANG FC 28 3 6 19 33 79 15
