Frenchman Philippe Troussier used to be the most chased soccer coach after leading Japan to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup, but his new employer Qatar must feel a little regretful after they were upset by lowly Indonesia 2-1 in the Asian Cup Group A match in Beijing on July 18.

But the man who felt most regretful should be Troussier himself.

"We regret that our efficiency in front of the goal was poor," he said. "We dominated the game for most of the time. In many situations, we could have scored in the box, but our finishing is too poor."

Troussier said that the defeat was very hard for them to accept, because nobody thought they would lose.

"We are a very offensive team, nobody thinks that we will lose, including ourselves. It's a very good lesson for us to learn. If we took half of our chances, we could score three or four times."

But he vowed to win the next two games against Bahrain and China to qualify from Group A.

"We still have six points to play for and I still believe we can win the two matches," he said.

"Bahrain and China both have only one point, if we beat Bahrainin the next match, we will have three. It's up to us to learn goodness on from the match and I think it will be a completely different team when we play Bahrain."

The 49-year-old, who announced on Saturday to quit after the Asian Cup, should have become the Chinese national coach last year if he had reached an agreement on contract details with the Chinese Football Association (CFA), who listed the Frenchman as their number one candidate.

But their talks broke down largely because Troussier asked for a too high salary and Dutchman Arie Haan finally took over as the China coach. Troussier later chose to sign with Qatar.

Troussier's magic just cannot work any more in front of a 95 percent empty Beijing Worker's Stadium.

Sandwiched between the European championship and the Athens Olympic Games, the Asian Cup found it impossible to attract a big crowd.

Peter Velappan, secretary general of the Asian Football Confederation, criticized the Beijing fans for their lack of enthusiasm for the event when half of the 65,000-capacity Workers' Stadium was empty during Saturday's opening ceremony and the first match between hosts China and Bahrain.

The Beijing soccer fans, who filled the stadium when Real Madrid played a friendly with a China select team last summer, turned a deaf ear to Velappan's harsh words on Sunday. Less than 2,000 fans turned out to watch the Qatar vs Indonesia game.

The Qataris took complete control after the match and they shot from every angles near the Indonesian goal, but Hendro, the Southeast Asian side's goalkeeper, dubbed the country's Fabien Barthez in their cup program, made a string of acrobatic saves to deny Qatar's chances to score.

Troussier was shocked when the unmarked Budi made a solo run after receiving a long pass from the midfield and rolled the ball into the right bottom of Qatar's net in the 29th minute.

Qatar's 'keeper Abul Aziz Abbulla, who had a rare off day, was left dumbfounded.

The Indonesians should have increased their lead one minute later but striker Bambang's header flew just over the crossbar.

But they managed to make it 2-0 seven minute after returning from the dressing room thanks to a fabulous long shot by Ponaryo Astaman from outside the box on the right.

Indonesia gradually showed they are a better team in defense and attack.

They really deserved a perfect Sunday afternoon but with five minutes remaining Qatar midfielder Magid Mohamed blasted the shot from close range to make it 2-1.

"We are lucky to win the match," said an jubilant Indonesian coach Ivan Kolev. "I hope to be one of them on the pitch."

Troussier's side stood bottom in Group A and Indonesia, who never won a game in their only two previous Asian Cup experiences in 1996 and 2000, topped the group which also consists China and Qatar.

Source: Xinhua