Jakarta Casual

There are plenty of teams in the Divisi Utama this season who will be looking enviously at the Indonesia Super League and wondering why they aren’t part of the fun given their history and heritage.

Take for example Persik Kediri. It was only 2007 when Persik, coached by Daniel Roekito and inspired by the Three Amigos of Christian Gonzalez, Ronald Fagundez and Danilo Fernando, were beating the likes of Sydney and Shanghai Shenhua in the AFC Champions League and holding Urawa Diamonds 3-3 in an exciting clash.

The small town in East Java had won the Liga Indonesia twice in the opening years of the 21^st century and the future looked rosy but it was not to be. Roekito was allowed to leave followed, one by one, by their stars as the club struggled financially to attract and keep the big names.

Another two time title winner plying their trade in the Utama are Persebaya who have had a rocky few years recently as they yo yo between the top flights of Indonesian football. They have struggled to perform on the field consistently ever since they allowed Jacksen F Tiago to leave and have seen a succession of coaches come and try to turn around their fortunes with mixed success.

Before my time but it wasn’t that long ago that PSMS met Persib at the Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta in front of something like 120,000 fans. They are one of the few teams who are rarely alone when they play away as there are migrants from North Sumatra all over the country and they rarely miss an opportunity to get behind their heroes when they hit town.

PSIS have also all but fallen off the football radar following a disappointing opening season in the Indonesia Super League saw them slide out of top flight football. Yet it was only in 2006 when a team filled with the likes of Emmanuel de Porres, Gustavo Hernan Ortiz, Hary Salisbury, I P Komang and Maman Abdurahman pushed Persik all the way for the title. Sadly the team wasn’t kept together and the money dried up.

With funding for these clubs all but drying up other clubs have taken their place at the pinnacle of the game. Persipura and Sriwijaya have dominated much of the local domestic football recently with Arema snapping up the Indonesia Super League last season and Persib along with bitter foes Persija are always sniffing round when it comes to the business end of the season.

Will the big four now in the Divisi Utama ever find a return to glory or is their day over for good? Interestingly at this early stage of the new season they find themselves in the bottom half of their respective groups!

Group A

8 – PSMS 5 2 0 3 4-8 6

Four points behind leaders Persita.

Group B

8 – Persik 4 2 0 2 4-4 6

Four points behind leaders PSIM. They host second placed Mitra Kukar tomorrow and I wouldn’t bet against them climbing the table.

12 – PSIS 4 1 0 3 2-6 3

Seven points behind leaders PSIM

Group C

8- Persebaya 5 2 0 3 5-6 6

Four points behind leaders Barito Putra

# posted by Me @ 4:16 PM