SEA GAMES 2011: TIMOR, THE DARK HORSE SET TO UPSET BALANCE

JAKARTA (8 Nov 2011) – Timor Leste have emerged as the dark horse in Group B and where they seem poised to upset the balance at this year’s SEA Games.

The Timorese, who were regarded to give only a semblance of a fight at the biennial championship, have thus far put up a sterling performance.

They overcame a fast and resolute Brunei side 2-1 in their first match while last night, they edged a confident Philippines side with a similar 2-1 score line.

With six points from two the first two games in the group, the Timorese are leading Group B – a scenario which is really not a surprise to Timor FA president Francisco Kabualdi.

“We have the material,” said Timor Leste chief coach Antonio Veira. “It was just a question of knocking things into perspective and thus far, the lads have shown their quality.

“We stuttered somewhat in the first game (against Brunei) but we recovered for the full points. But in the second match, we were more settled and you can see from the way we controlled the game.”

The two positive results were definitely a far cry from the 5-0 hiding they received at the hands of Indonesia in a friendly that was played last month.

And this is largely due to finding the balance between players who do not play in the same league. Most of the players are from abroad but given the one month period which they have spent training in Jakarta, it would seem that Veira might just have found the finishing touch.

The big test will be against Vietnam tomorrow,” he added. “If we can get the result that we want, then we should be on our way to a place in the semi-finals.”

SEA GAMES 2011 RESULTS and FIXTURES

GROUP B