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Friday, November 20, 2015

 

Persija Kick Off Sudirman Campaign With Three Points

Bambang Nurdiansyah has been kicking round as a coach for a good few years. Among the clubs he has worked with include PSIS, Pelita Jaya (in various guises), a short lived spell with Arema, Jakarta FC (from the IPL days) and most recently Cilegon United. The former Indonesian international striker has, it is fair to say, not really made much of an impression until he moved to Cilegon United where he helped them win promotion from Division One in 2014.

His appointment as coach at Persija came as something as a surprise then when he replaced the Malaysia bound Rahmad Darmawan and with Persija failing miserably in the President Cup, not getting out of the group stage, not winning a game and scoring a single goal along the way, the Jakmania would have been looking forward to the General Sudirman Cup with typical supporter optimism but little expectation they would actually do well.

However Banur as he is known has made some astute moves in the transfer market, bringing in Raphael Maitimo, ex Persija and Persebaya striker Emanuel Kenmogne (Pacho) and Mbidia Messi and to be fair their preparations ahead of the tournament for which they are based in Malang have gone pretty well, winning three friendlies ahead of the main event and perhaps just as importantly, keeping three clean sheets along the way.

Their first real test came yesterday when they came up against Persipasi Bandung Raya who also had a new coach in the dug out with national technical director Pieter Huistra replacing Dejan Antonic. An interesting match up from a coaching point of view, Banur the solid Indonesian with the journeyman background up against Huistra, the former Dutch international who had played for a number of Europe's biggest clubs in a glittering career.

And it was Banur who came out on top with Persija winning 2-0 thanks to goals from Maitimo and Kenmogne in a game that saw PBRs Leonard Tupamahu red carded after a reckless challenge on Pacho in the first half.

12 minutes later Persija took the lead, Pacho turning home from close range after fine work down the left and in the second half Maitimo finished the scoring when he was left unmarked 12 yards out. And another clean sheet.

It was PBR's second defeat of the competition, losing 4-2 against Arema last time out while Persija picked up three points in their first game. Sunday sees PBR take on Gresik United while the Kemayoran Tigers face Sriwijaya Wednesday.

1 - Arema 2 2 0 0 8-3 6
2 - Persija 1 1 0 0 2-0 3
3 - Sriwijaya 1 1 0 0 1-0 3
4 - Persipasi BR 2 0 0 2 2-6 0
5 - Gresik United 2 0 0 2 1-5 0

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