South Asian Business news and information

As one of the host nations, Indonesia has qualified automatically for AFC Asian Cup 2007. However, it will not be so easy for Indonesia to impress the fans as in Group D, they have to face some giant teams like South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Indonesia could not yet go beyond the first round in any Asian Cup final they have played so far.

In their regional Tiger Cup, they have been runner up for three times. However, from Group D, South Korea and Saudi Arabia are favorite to progress in the next round. Indonesian Coach Ivan Kolev has recently unveiled the final squad for the Asian Cup 2007. The squad does not have any surprise but some important players like Boaz Salossa and Saktiawan could not make it to the final squad while striker Salossa fell to injury.

The squad is as follows:

Indonesia squad for Asian Cup: Jendry Pitoy (Persipura), Marcus Horison (PSMS), Feri Rotinsulu (Sriwijaya FC); Supardi (PSMS), Ricardo Salampessy (Persipura), Firmansyah (Sriwijaya FC), Charis Yulianto (Sriwijaya FC), Hary Saputra (Persis), Maman Abdurrachman (PSIS), M Ridwan (PSIS), Erol Iba (Persik); Ponaryo Astaman (Arema), Firman Utina (Persita), Mahyadi Panggabean (PSMS), Eka Ramdhani (Persib), Syamsul Chaerudin (PSM), Atep (Persija); Ismed Sofyan (Persija), Ellie Aiboy (Arema), Bambang Pamungkas (Persija), Budi Sudarsono (Persik), Zaenal Arief (Persib), Rahmat Rivai (Persiter).