Thailand retains Tiger Cup

Musthofid and Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The ten-man Thailand team beat Indonesia 6-4 in the penalty shootout in the final match to win the Tiger Cup for the third time at the Bung Karno Stadium here on Sunday.

While Indonesia's failure was ruefully lamented given the fact that Thailand played with ten men almost from the start of the second half, Indonesia failed to avenge its defeat to the same team in the 2000 final.

Earlier in the day, Vietnam beat Malaysia 2-1 to take the third spot in the Tiger Cup, the biennial soccer tournament for South East Asian nations.

Chukiat Noosalung was expelled from the pitch in the 56th minute following his harsh foul on Gendut Doni Christiawan. The defending champion was then leading the host team 2-1.

Noosalung and Terdsak Chaiman, who was voted "best player" at the end of the tournament, put Thailand ahead 2-0 before Indonesia reduced the gap, thanks to Yaris Riyadi's goal just three minutes into the second half of the game.

Despite playing against ten men and having the support of the home crowd packed inside the 110,000-person Bung Karno Stadium, Ivan Kolev's team looked desperate on the attacking front against the resolute Thais.

The equalizer came ten minutes before the end of the game when Gendut Doni Christiawan swept up the flank before firing home a hard goal past goalkeeper Kittisak Rawangpa.

Indonesia upped the pressure but Thailand, forced to camp deep in their defense sparing a counter-attack only now and then, defended resiliently to deny the home team a winning goal.

The scoreboard did not change after the extra time, which prompted the penalty shootout.

Sakda Joemdee, Terdsak Chaiman, Manit Noyvach and Dusit Chalermsan accomplished their task well. The only failed shot on goal was by team star Kiatisuk Senamuang, who kicked the ball high.

On the Indonesian side, Bambang Pamungkas, who came out as the tournament's top scorer with eight goals, and Imran Nahumarury managed to score, while Sugiantoro and Firmansyah kicked their balls into the post or too wide.