President's Cup 2022, PSIS Vs Arema: Carlos Fortes Is Ready To Face His Former Team

Carlos Fortes (Instagram.com/@psisoficial)

JAKARTA - PSIS versus Arema FC will face off in the first leg of the 2022 Presidential Cup semifinal. This match will be a moment for Carlos Fortes, who is now defending PSIS, to meet and face his former team.

The match, which will be held at the Jatidiri Stadium, Semarang at 16.00 WIB, will also feature a duel from the Portuguese League alumni. Fortes who is defending PSIS will meet Abel Camara, a Portuguese player who is now in Arema FC uniform.

Last season, Fortes appeared brilliant by pocketing 20 goals while still defending Arema. Now when he is in PSIS uniform, his performance is also unquestionable, because even though he is relatively new, Fortes has scored 5 goals for Laskar Mahesa Jenar.

Fortes' goal record also made him the temporary top scorer in the 2022 President's Cup. Fortes' contribution was also recognized by the PSIS coach, Sergio Alexandre, who could really help his team's front lines, including against Arema.

Even though Sergio knew that Arema would have understood how Fortes would move on the field later, the coach didn't care. According to him, the most important thing is Fortes to show the best performance.

“Now Fortes plays for PSIS. It's natural that Arema knows his abilities, but that's not the most important thing. Most of all, Fortes is happy and at the maximum at PSIS. That will be an advantage," the Brazilian coach was quoted as saying on the club's website on Thursday.

Meanwhile, in the Singo Edan camp, the presence of Abel Camara, who is both from Portugal, is expected to dampen Fortes' movement. However, Camara who is not even a week in Arema uniform is also believed to still need time to adapt.

This meeting is predicted to be a gamble for both teams. Especially for Arema FC who are still trying to move on from Fortes by bringing in Abel.

For Arema coach, Eduardo Almeida, his team is now in good preparation to face PSIS. For this match, Almeida doesn't want to be fixated on guarding her former striker Fortes but wants her team to perform optimally.

"We are preparing to face PSIS as a team, not specifically against Fortes. However, for us it will be easier because Fortes played with Arema one season ago. So, we both know," said Almeida.

PSIS and Arema FC actually met in a duel last June. However, the meeting which was also held at the Jatidiri Stadium was only a pre-season test event. At that time, Arema gave up 1-2.