Kolev sympathises with Senayan support

JAKARTA –Ivan Kolev sympathised with the fans of AFC Asian Cup co-hosts Indonesia after his side slipped to a late 2-1 defeat against former champions Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.

Saad Al Harthi scored the winner three minutes into injury time to give the Saudis their first win of the tournament and break the hearts of the home fans packed inside the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

Indonesia looked to have done enough to secure a point to add to the three they collected against Bahrain in their opening game of the tournament after Elie Aiboy cancelled out Yasser Al Qahtani’s 14th minute header.

But as the Saudis piled on the pressure in the final 20 minutes of the game, the Indonesian defence finally caved in, robbing Kolev of the perfect 50th birthday present.

"I feel disappointed for the players and team," said Kolev. "I feel sorry for the huge crowd in particular as we should have got one point today."

Kolev refused to criticise United Arab Emirates referee Ali Al Badwawi, despite seeing five of his players going into the official’s book in a game that was far from physical.

"For me, it is not the coach's job to evaluate the referee and his decisions,” said the former Myanmar coach. “However, I felt that some incidents were very strange."

Despite crashing to a demoralising defeat, a place in the knockout stages of the competition remains a possibility as the Indonesians prepare for their final group game, against Korea Republic on Wednesday.

"I'm realistic and personally I'm not pessimistic or optimistic," he said. "What we will try to do is deploy another strategy and I will have some new players against Korea Republic.

"Hopefully the players will recover quickly and have a good game. I will try my best to make them ready for our final match.”

Taken From =afcasiancup=