INDONESIA BEGIN UNDER-16 QUALIFIERS TOMORROW

Placed in Group F, the Indonesian youth side will be up against Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos for the qualifiers which have been slated for Oct 24 until Nov 5, 2007.

“Of the five teams in the group, I believe that Japan will be hardest of them all because they have a tradition in building strong youth teams,” said Nugraha Besoes, the general secretary of the Indonesian FA (PSSI).

“But we are hopeful that the experience of playing in the recent AFF U-17 Youth Championship in Cambodia will give Indonesia the added advantage.”

The Indonesia U16 team came in fourth in Cambodia behind eventual champions Thailand, second-placed Laos and Vietnam who were third.

IN THE MEANTIME, Malaysia’s U16 qualifying campaign ended on the weekend when they conceded a 4-0 loss to DPR Korea following an earlier 2-0 defeat to Australia.

There are only three teams vying from Group G following the withdrawals of Myanmar, Maldives and Timor Leste earlier.