Jakarta Casual

Arema fans doing the Poznan before the game with Army United

It does seem rather pedantic to blame the ref but then we know that's the way things work in this part of the world. The geezer with the whistle is usually called Homer.

But Army are very much architects of their own downfall. I have no idea if their new coach, former Leicester City defender Matt Elliot was here or not...I am guessing not given that the bench was filled with garden gnomes who moved nary a muscle all game.


If Elliot does see this he may well be wondering just what the hell he has taken on.

A couple of crunching tackles in the early minutes by Arema's Juan Revi and the Thai Army had pretty much conceded the middle of the park.

Arema carved through the Thai Army at will and at times their one touch football was breathtaking by local standards. But what got me was the reaction, or lack of it, on the Thai's bench.

The Thais were followed by one supporter, I know his name was on the team sheet, but if he had paid his way he should be asking for a refund. Shocking doesn't come close to describing the way they caved in.

For the record Cristian Gonzales shows age does not weary him against an apathetic defence as he netted three while Lopes, with a soft penalty, Alberto Goncalves and Samsul Arif showing the class we knew he has always had, put the game beyond the visitors and the goal they did get, a bizzare free kick that the ref had no time to think of an excuse not to give it.

As I write this, Persija play PDRM in the second game but  came home for the Arsenal game so there!

Asian Football Pictures has some more pictures from the game.

UPDATE - in the second game, Persija defeated PDRM 2-1. Rahmat Affando gave the hosts the lead just after half time before Sakha Bungara scored from a pen. Sabri Mat Abu pulled back one for the visiting Cops.

Today sees high scoring Arema take on PDRM while Army United will be hoping for a better performance against Persija