INDONESIA STALEMATE IN JAKARTA; VIETNAM HOLD SYRIA

The one point meant that Indonesia are still stuck at the bottom of Group B of the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers – behind Australia, Kuwait and Oman.

Indonesia had taken the lead off Budi Sudarsono with seconds remaining in the first half when he made good on a cross from Bambang Pamungkas.

But the red card shown by Japanese referee Tojo Minoru on rightback Ismed Sofyan just minutes after the restart meant that the hosts had to play with a man less which gave the advantage to the Kuwaitis.

And in the 75th minute Kuwait duly took advantage when Ahmad Ajab gave the visitors the equalizer for both teams to share the spoils.

“Generally, the players played well even though the likes of Boaz (Salossa) and Firman (Utina) are not 100% fit. But we are still making mistakes and this cost us the game,” added Indonesia head coach Benny Dolo afterwards.

Indonesia still have two more matches to play for in the 2011 Asian Cup qualifiers – against Oman in Jakarta on 6 January 2010 and then away to Australia on 3 March 2010.

In the meantime, Vietnam made up for their home defeat last week when they held Syria to a scoreless draw on the road at the Aleppo International Stadium.

The only black mark on the night was the marching orders on striker Le Cong Vinh in the 69th minute after he picked up his second yellow card in the game.

With the one point, Vietnam are third in Group D with four points from four matches.

They still have matches against Lebanon (away) on 6 January 2010 and against China at home on 17 January 2010 to play for and look to win the one of two spots for a place in the final round.