5-1 Win Over West Java In The Men's Football PON XX, Papua Completes Revans

JAKARTA - The Papuan men's soccer team started their performance at the XX Papua National Sports Week (PON) by completing a revans (redemption) against West Java. Papua won 5-1 in the first match of the Group A elimination at the Mandala Stadium, Jayapura City, Monday.

Men's soccer is one of the Papuan PON sports which will be played before the opening ceremony of the quadrennial sporting event which will be held on Saturday this weekend.

Two of Eduard Ivakdalam's team, namely M. Arody Uopdana and captain Ricky Ricardo CGT Cawor both scored two goals for the victory which was also decorated with a beautiful goal by Samuel Gideon Balinsa.

While West Java only got one consolation goal scored by Muchammad Wildan Ramdhani Nugraha, tarnishing their status as the defending champions of PON men's football and now slumped at the bottom of Group A with a score of zero points and a goal difference of four deficits.

Launching Antara, the victory brought Papua to lead the standings of Group A with three points and a superior goal difference of four.

Papua, which lost in the last meeting of the two teams in the 2016 PON semifinals, has been aggressive since the start of attacking the West Java defense by utilizing the width of the field.

After several attempts were successfully broken by the West Java defense, Papua was finally able to open the scoring in the eighth minute through Arody, who was free-standing without an escort to head home a cross sent by Alpons Migau.

West Java struggled to develop their game but had a chance to get a free kick on the right flank in the 23rd minute and Ahmad Faisal's sharp cross was enough to force goalkeeper Adzib Al Hakim Arsyad to punch the ball.

Eight minutes later, it was goalkeeper Ade Candra Sena's turn who was busy to ward off the ball from Samuel Giedon Balinsa's free-kick which dived sharply over the crossbar.

A confident Papuan should have doubled their lead in the 40th minute when Ricky Ricardo CGT Cawor received a cross in the center of the box from Yeter Amohoso, but his finishing shot missed the mark.

However, two minutes later, the captain immediately paid for his failure by carefully tricking Ahmad Faisal into sending a mature pull pass which Arody only had to finish to put Papu 2-0 up until halftime.

Left behind by two goals, West Java head coach Yudhiantara made a double substitution at halftime, bringing in Ilham Mahfudzillah and Rizki Arohma respectively for Hasan Baharudin Al Farizi and Muhammad Rizqi Darmaparayana.

Unfortunately, this step did not immediately change the West Java game. In fact, Papua managed to widen their advantage when the second half was only six minutes old through a beautiful goal created by Samuel Gideon Balinsa.

Receiving a wild ball near the arc area of the penalty box, Samuel passed at least three West Java players before releasing a shot that beat Ade Candra Sena.

The goal apparently made the Papuan defense line fall asleep and West Java gave an instant answer through Muchammad Wildan to cut the distance from 1-3 in the 53rd minute.

Unfortunately, the momentum of West Java's revival did not continue and Papua soon found their concentration this time when Ricky Ricardo finally netted the ball into the visitors' goal in the 57th minute, but the goal was immediately disallowed because the linesman raised the offside flag.

However, a minute later the Papuan captain finally got his name on the scoresheet with a high header beyond Ade Candra's rescue attempt at the far post.

Four minutes before the dispersal of normal time, Ricky Ricardo completed Papua's 5-1 victory, as a positive provision ahead of facing North Maluku in the next match on Thursday at the Mandala Stadium.

The day before, in the same place, West Java would be hunting for a way to keep the chance of qualifying for the last six when facing East Nusa Tenggara.

In another match which also took place at the same time on Monday at the Mahacandra Stadium, Jayapura, East Java, they opened the preliminary Group B with a 3-0 victory over South Sulawesi.