JAKARTA (6 Feb 2011) – The Indonesia Olympic side was held to a 1-1 draw by Pelita Jaya Under-21 team in a friendly that was played at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium last night.
With Oktovianus Maniani (Sriwijaya FC Palembang) and Dendy Santoso (Arema Indonesia) still injured, returned to fitness captain Yongki Aribowo had to work doubly hard alongside strike mate Titus Bonai to stage a comeback from being a goal down.
Through some slick work between the Pelita Jaya frontline, Magdis Alfarizi found the time and space for a shot to the far post way beyond the reach of keeper Kurnia Meiga.
A goal down, the Indonesian youth side stepped up their tempo and dead ball specialist Hendro Siswanto did not disappoint with a long range effort with just a minute left of the first half.
In the second half, the Indonesian Olympic squad earned a penalty following a foul on Titus but Gunawan Dwi Cahyo failed to find the target.
Following the draw, Indonesia chief coach Alfred Rield trimmed the squad the squad down to 22 by releasing Burhanudin Nihe (Persigo Gorontalo) and Riski Novriansyah (Persijap Jepara) from the team.
The Indonesian Olympic team’s next match will be against Hongkong on 9 February.
“We will play only one game against the Hong Kong Olympic team as the Hong Kong FA (HKFA) have requested that we postponed the second friendly to 14 February which is a little too late for us,” said Iman Arif, from the Indonesia National Team Management.
