Persija Jakarta have confirmed their place in the 2021 Menpora Cup final after eliminating PSM Makassar in an intense and exciting penalty shootout on Sunday’s semifinal second leg at the Manahan Stadium. Having played out a 0-0 draw in April 15th’s first leg, the two sides once again drew blanks in the second half, necessitating the need for a penalty shootout. Despite Marko Simic missing his penalty and PSM scoring their first two spot kicks, Persija kept their calm and survived the overall shootout with a 4-3 win.
Unlike the first leg, which was marred by 12 yellow cards for both sides and a red card for Persija’s Marco Motta, the second leg was played out more cautiously and conservatively. The two sides’ defenses were quite disciplined in their work rate and they managed to nullify each threat coming towards them. The likes of Osvaldo Haay and Yakob Sayuri tried to get the better out of Hilman Syah and Andritany Ardhiyasa respectively, however the two young rising stars were unable to find any breakthrough for their respective teams.
In the end no goals were scored after 90 minutes of football and with the aggregate score in a deadlock as well, penalties are needed to find who will get the first ticket to the Menpora Cup final.
Simic went up first for Persija however the Croat’s shot was expertly deflected away by Hilman. As it was in the quarterfinal shootout against PSIS Semarang, Hasyim Kipuw was the Juku Eja‘s first penalty taker and the defender made no mistakes whatsoever with his assignment.
Nepali defensive midfielder Rohit Chand was Persija’s second taker and he managed to beat Hilman with a powerful shot, however PSM once again reclaimed the lead after Rasyid Bakri successfully got the better of Andritany. Yann Motta went up next for the Macan Kemayoran and the Brazilian managed to restore parity with his thunderbolt of a penalty, before Andritany heroically denied Abdul Rachman to keep Persija in the game.
Novri Setiawan then saw his penalty being palmed away by Hilman, allowing Sutanto Tan to successfully reclaim the lead for PSM. Marc Klok swiftly equalized for Persija with a successful penalty against his old side albeit with the aid of a deflection from the goalpost, before Sayuri saw his penalty going wide off-target.
Hilman then easily caught a tame penalty from Sandi Darma Sute to keep PSM’s heads above water, before Zulham Zamrun sends his spot kick to row zed, ensuring that Persija are also alive and well deep into the shootout.
Riko Simanjuntak of Persija and Saldi Amiruddin of PSM failed with their penalty assignments afterwards, setting the stage for Tony Sucipto to bury one past Hilman to finally turn the shootout in Persija’s favor. Persija’s ticket to the Menpora Cup final was then confirmed shortly afterwards after Andritany denied Zulkifli Syukur’s penalty, ensuring a 4-3 win for the Macan Kemayoran after two goalless draws over 180 minutes worth of football.
Persija will take on the winner of the second semifinal between Persib Bandung and PS Sleman in the final, with Persib holding a slender 2-1 advantage over PSS coming into the second leg which will be played on Monday at the Manahan.