Rizky Pora dropped from Indonesia's team to face Malaysia

BetOdds WC Qualification Asia Indonesia v Malaysia Indonesia Malaysia Barito Putera

The Barito Putera winger will not be part of the squad for the first World Cup qualifier following his actions in a league match on August 14.

The 29-year-old player got into a tussle with Bayu Gatra of PSM Makassar at Andi Mattalatta Stadium and as a result caught the ire of Indonesia's head coach Simon McMenemy who promptly decided to drop Rizky from his 24-man squad.

Rizky was initially named in the national team for the start of the joint 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualification against Malaysia (Sep 5) and Thailand (Sep 10) but has now seen his place taken over by Persib Bandung player, Febri Hariyadi.

Part of the Indonesia squad that reached the final of the 2016 AFF Championship, Rizky was apologetic for his actions and fully accepted the decision by McMenemy.

"I'm sorry for my part in the incident with Bayu Gatra. I have said sorry directly to Bayu. I'm also sorry and accept the decision of coach Simon McMenemy involving my call-up to the Indonesia national team. I'm taking this as part of a learning process for me.

"Hopefully in the future I won't be repeating action that will not benefit me. I'm always available to the Indonesia national team and I wish them all the best in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers," said Rizky.

The McMenemy decision shows the tight ship that the Scot runs at the national team and served to be a reminder to the rest of the players that no indiscipline will be tolerated. The experienced 41-year-old coach knows full well about the Indonesian league having spent two seasons with Bhayangkara FC.

However that wasn't the only change which McMenemy was force to do as he also decided to bring in Semen Padang's Teja Paku Alam after goalkeeper Awan Setho Raharjo suffered a dislocated finger during training with Bhayangkara on August 18.

Indonesia are in the Group G of the qualifiers, starting their campaign with two home ties at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium against Malaysia and Thailand before traveling to United Arab Emirates (Oct 10), returning to their hollowed ground to play host to Vietnam (Oct 15).

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Beginilah rupanya bilik persalinan Harimau Malaya di Stadium Nasional Bkt Jalil, sewaktu hari perlawanan. If you've been wondering how Malaysia's dressing room at the Bkt Jalil National Stadium looks like, wonder no more!

A post shared by Goal Malaysia (@goal_malaysia) on Aug 15, 2019 at 4:34pm PDT

2019-08-19 10:00:04

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