Steven Danis
Football Tribe Indonesia
Last weekend the first leg of 2018-2019 Piala Indonesia semi-final already concluded. Persija Jakarta met Borneo FC on Saturday while PSM Makassar met Madura United one day later.
Both home teams, Persija and PSM, earned narrow wins as a precious asset for the second leg next weekend.
Persija won 2-1 as living legend Bambang Pamungkas scored his 200th goal for Macan Kemayoran in front of his supporters, who filled the Wibawa Mukti stadium in Cikarang, Bekasi.
Meanwhile, in the other match, Zulham Zamrun scored the only goal at the Mattoanging Stadium to inflict Madura United’s first competitive loss of 2019.
Both Borneo and Madura still have a chance to turn their results around, as they return to host the second leg. The former especially will hope that their away goal can give them the platform for a comeback victory against defending Liga 1 Champions Persjia.
The winner of this competition will go to the play-off round of the AFC Cup 2020, meaning that this tournament provides a shortcut as Indonesia rearrange the clubs who will enter into the continental competitions next year.
This season, the champions of the 2018 Liga 1, Persija Jakarta, went through to the first of AFC Champions League qualifying, before their loss to Australian side Newcastle Jets sent them into the group stage of the AFC Cup, Asia’s secondary continental competition.
The other Indonesian representative on the continent, PSM, also earned a spot on AFC Group Stage. Third place Bhayangkara FC, who finished on third last season, needed Persjia to qualify for the AFC Champions League to vacate Indonesia’s additional AFC Cup spot and were ultimately denied the chance to qualify.
However, the PSSI is planning a reshuffle of the qualification spots next season. The Liga 1 Champions’ position remains the same – a shot at Champions League qualification with the AFC Cup to fall back on. However, this year’s Liga 1 runners-up will be on the waiting list like Bhayangkara was this season, and the winner of the Piala Indonesia will take the spot that PSM did last season.
To complicate things further, a fall in the coefficient rankings means that the Piala Indonesia champions will not secure a place directly in the Group Stage, and will face a playoff round.
Regardless, with the 2019 Liga 1 season just beginning, these four teams are just two games away from finding a shortcut to continental football in 2020.