REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Coach of Indonesia's Persija Jakarta soccer team, Stefano "Teco" Cugurra ignored the changes in Malaysia's team of Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) before both teams play in Jakarta on Tuesday evening. Persija and JDT will compete in an advanced match of group H of the 2018 AFC cup at the Bung Karno main stadium in Jakarta.
The JDT's team which will play this time is different from the JDT that crushed Persija 3-0 in last February.
The current JDT is no longer trained by the tactics coach who frustrated Persija in the past match.
In addition, one of goal scorers to Persija at the moment K Jorge Rolando Pereyra Díaz is no longer on the team which is based in the Tan Sri Dato Haji Hassan Yunos stadium.
"We just focus our attention to our team. We have to concentrate and do not be careless in the game against them," Teco stated on Monday.
According to him, instead of paying attention to the opposing team, he is more focused to improve the quality of his players. Moreover, it is important for Persija to win if it wants to maintain the opportunity to qualify for the next phase.
Now in Group H, Persija is ranked second with seven points, equal to the point of the first ranked team from Vietnam Song Lam Nghe An (SLNA), while JDT is ranked third.
If Persija wins against JDT, the Persija's burden in stepping into the final game against the existing club in fourth position of Group H, Tampines Rovers in Singapore will be lighter, because SLNA must fight all out against JDT.