Steven Danis
Football Tribe Indonesia
Last Sunday, Persija Jakarta won the first leg of the 2018/2019 Piala Indonesia Finals in Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. Ryuji Utomo scored the only goal for Macan Kemayoran against PSM Makassar before both clubs head to Makassar and play the second leg later this week.
Both teams played without their captain, goalkeeper Andritany Ardhiyasa for Persija and midfielder Wiljan Pluim for PSM. The game began with a slow tempo but intense as Macan Kemayoran got their first attempt fro Nepali midfielder, Rohit Chand, after 11 minutes which was saved by PSM’s young goalkeeper, Hilman Syah.
PSM tried to get out from the press as Zulham Zamrun got a chance from a long shoot in 25th minutes that was also saved by Shahar Ginanjar. Both teams made many attempts but until the half-time, the game remained goalless.
The situation didn’t change much in the second half. Guy Junior had a golden chance in the 70th minute as he finally one on one with Shahar, who impressively blocked his shot. But seventeen minutes later the home side finally got their winning goal from a corner kick scheme.
Ryuji Utomo, who came from the bench in the second half, sent a low shot into the goal during a scrimmage on PSM’s penalty box.
The game looked very intense even off the pitch as there’s an argument battle from the bench between PSM’s coach, Darije Kalezic, and Persija’s assistant coach, Eduardo Perez.
With a narrow win in Jakarta, anything can still happen in Makassar. Darije Kalezic’s men must attack more to overturn the scoreline. In the post-match press conference, the Dutch-Bosnian manager said that today they only targeted a draw result, which explains his decision to play Guy Junior, the naturalized striker who is better at defending, rather than Eero Markaanen (who came on as a substitute in the second half) and Ferdinan Sinaga who already on fire on the league.
Meanwhile, Persija coach Julio Banuelos said this is the redemption for their bad results in the league and to answer all the skepticism that addressed to him by the Jakmania. The second leg will be played in Mattoanging stadium, Makassar on 28th July 2019 at 15:30 GMT+7. Both clubs have never lifted the national cup trophy so the match will be prestigious for both sides.