SEA Games football competition to start earlier than scheduled

The organisers of the SEA Games in Indonesia (INASOC) have decided to host the men’s Under-23 football competition in Jakarta alone.

Earlier, INASOC had announced that the football competition will be played in Jakarta and Palem­bang.

On Thursday, Djoko Pramono, the deputy chairman of INASOC confirmed that Jakarta would host both groups of the football competition instead of one playing in the capital and the other in Palembang.

The other notable change is that the INASOC have also decided to bring forward the kick-off of the men’s Under-23 football competition from Nov 7 to Nov 3.

The decision to call off the matches in Palembang was due to the Main Stadium at the Gelora Sriwijaya occupied for the opening and closing ceremonies. In Jakarta, the matches will be held at the Gelora Bung Karno and Lebak Bulus venues.

National Under-23 coach Ong Kim Swee said that he was surprised by the sudden change with the competition barely a month away.

“We were scheduled to play our last friendly game on Nov 2 before we head to Jakarta on Nov 5. But now we have to change our plans,” said Kim Swee yesterday.

Kim Swee, who also handles the Harimau Muda A team, has been given the mandate to take charge of both assignments – the Olympic qualifiers and SEA Games.

The SEA Games football matches will kick off on Nov 3 and the final is on Nov 22. Malaysia’s campaign in the Olympic qualifiers began with an away match against Japan on Sept 21, which they lost 0-2 in Fukuoka. Malaysia are scheduled to play two home matches next against Syria (Nov 23) and Bahrain (Nov 27).

Malaysia, who won the SEA Games gold medal after a lapse of 20 years in 2009, will start as the favourites in Indonesia.

Should they qualify for the final on Nov 22, there is no way they can play the Olympic qualifying match against Syria in Kuala Lumpur the next day.

Under FIFA’s competition rules, players must have at least 48 hours of rest after an international game.

Kim Swee is keeping his fingers crossed for a favourable reply from the AFC to have the Syrian game postponed to a later date.