Hosts Indonesia kept their AFF Suzuki Cup dreams on track when they sensationally swept Laos aside 6-0 last night to emerge champions of Group A even though they still have one more match to play.
Indonesia have six points while Thailand and Malaysia will have to fight for the remaining semifinal slot.
Thailand, one of the pre-tournament favourites, dug themselves into a spot when despite dominating the match ended up sharing points with Malaysia. With two points in the bag, Thailand now have to beat Indonesia to advance.
At the Gelora Bung Karno last night, in front of over 40,000 fans, Indonesia knew what they had to do and took the fight opened the floodgates with a 26th minute penalty converted by skipper Firman Utina. Muhammad Ridhwan doubled the score just seven minutes later and the score remained until the break.
Five minutes after resumption, Indonesia continued their spree with a superb strike from Firman, his second of the match. Irfan Harrys Bachdim struck his second goal of the event when he made a lovely run into the box, easing past his markers to make 4-0 in the 62nd minute. Substitute Arif Suyono scored six minutes after coming on for Ridhwan. The speedy Oktovianus Maniani completed the rout in the 80th minute.
“It was a big win and I credit the players for their untiring efforts. Although we are already in the semifinals, we will not take it easy against Thailand in our last match,” said Alfred Ridle, head coach of Indonesia.
For Laos the loss was a bitter blow following their superb performance against Thailand two days earlier. But as coach David Booth explained: “Against a team like Indonesia or for that matter Thailand or Malaysia, you just can’t afford to make mistakes, you have to minimize them. Unfortunately, we conceded a penalty and then the second goal. It was difficult for a team like ours to bounce back, we are not that strong.”
Booth said that instead of keeping the score down, the team decided to go for the game. “We did not sit back, unfortunately it did not work. And then we conceded the early goal in the second half.”
