The country`s team manager, Orlando Marques Henriques Mendes, said that Indonesia`s Garuda Muda team was not in the list of teams that his team should be afraid of at a press conference held here on Wednesday.
"We will only see top teams like the Australian and Japanese teams," he said.
Orlando`s comment drew a lot of questions from the journalists present at the conference.
It was not only Timor Leste team`s manager who underestimates Indonesia. Singapore`s team manager Mike Wong Mun Heng who also attended the conference also concurred saying that the Indonesian team was not a strong opponent.
Mike, however, had asked his team to watch out for the Indonesian front line players whose attacks he said are quite sharp.
In response to these statements, the chief of the Indonesian Football Association, Djohar Arifin, admitted the loss of Indonesian team at the hands of Timor Leste and Singapore at the same event before.
"However, this does not mean that we are weak. Such statements should motivate the Indonesian team to play its best to win the matches later," he said.
Djohar said that criticism aside, Indonesia must not respond negatively. "What is important is how to use their perceptions to challenge our Indonesian team to play its best and win in every match. If necessary we must also beat the seeded teams from Australia and Japan," he said.
(SYS/KR-BSR/S012)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
