Magnificent Indonesia thrashes Malaysia 4-0

Magnificent Indonesia thrashes Malaysia 4-0

JAKARTA (JP): Four unanswered goals yesterday rekindled
Indonesia's hopes of winning the soccer gold medal in the 19th
SEA Games.

Playing arch-rival Malaysia in a crucial group B match, the
victory hungry Indonesians entertained some 70,000 fans at the
Senayan stadium yesterday with a near-flawless attacking game.

The match, however, was tarnished with two red cards reducing
both teams to 10 men after just 33 minutes.

Chinese referee Yu Jingyim showed Malaysian defender Zami
Mohammad Noor a red card in the 22nd minute for his second
bookable offense. He then gave marching orders to Indonesian
midfielder Bima Sakti 11 minutes later, also for accumulated
yellow cards.

The red cards will bar Bima from Indonesia's last match
against the Philippines on Sunday and Zami from the match against
Laos next Tuesday. The Philippines became the only pointless team
after a 4-1 rout by Laos yesterday, its second defeat in as many
matches.

Indonesia, smarting from an upset 2-2 draw with Vietnam on
Tuesday, kept up the pressure from the opening whistle, but
required a penalty to open the scoring in the 20th minute after
Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto was felled by Azmil Azali in the box.

Captain and man of the match Fachri Husaini sent Malaysian
goalkeeper Khairul Azman Mohamed the wrong way to give Indonesia
the lead. But the home side failed to add to it before half time.

Azman Adnan almost equalized for Malaysia one minute after the
break, but libero Sugiantoro stood calmly under the bar Kurnia
Sandy had left vacant to keep an Azman drive at bay to deflect
the shot.

Indonesia was awarded another penalty in the 53rd minute after
Fachri was chopped down by the Malaysian striker Mohamed Azmi.
Fachri carried out the second execution as clinically as the
first.

Widodo Cahyono Putro, after a series of wasted chances, found
the net seven minutes later, courtesy of a Fachri pass. It was
Widodo's third goal in the tournament.

Kurniawan joined in the goal spree in the 69th minute when he
blasted home an Aji cross from 20 meters.

The 4-0 win puts Indonesia on top of the table with seven
points after three matches. Malaysia is now second on six points.

Dutch coach Henk Wullems, a chain smoker throughout the game,
was fulsome in his praise of the team. "It was one of the best
games Indonesia has played... certainly since I took over as
coach.

"They were fighting all the way... The four goals were the
right result."

He especially paid tribute to regular substitute Sugiantoro,
who replaced veteran Robby Darwis as a starting player yesterday,
for successfully marking Malaysia's dangerous striker Azmi.

"I just told him to play this afternoon and he said he was
ready," Wullems said.

Malaysian coach Wan Jamak, who refused to attend the post-
match press conference, simply told reporters who chased him that
losing was part of the game.

"The players were tense," he said adding that the fanatic
crowd might well have been the cause.

In a group A match at Lebak Bulus stadium, South Jakarta,
Singapore notched up its first win after narrowly beating
Cambodia 2-1. Myanmar also kept its chances of moving further
alive with a 6-1 thrashing of winless Brunei.

In the women's competition in the Pajajaran stadium in Bogor,
West Java, Vietnam outclassed the Philippines 2-0, while Myanmar
defeated Malaysia 2-1. (10)

Results

Group A:
Singapore 2 Cambodia 1 (ht. 1-0)
Myanmar 6 Brunei 1 (6-0)

Standings:

P W D L Gf Ga Pts
Thailand 2 2 0 0 8 1 6
Myanmar 3 1 1 1 9 5 4
Singapore 2 1 1 0 4 3 4
Cambodia 2 1 0 1 5 2 3
Brunei 3 0 0 3 1 16 0

Group B:
Indonesia 4 Malaysia 0 (1-0)
Laos 4 Philippines 1 (3-1)

Standings:

P W D L Gf Ga Pts
Indonesia 3 2 1 0 11 4 7
Malaysia 3 2 0 1 5 4 6
Laos 2 1 0 1 6 6 3
Vietnam 2 0 1 1 2 3 1
Philippines 2 0 0 2 1 8 0