Vietnam into soccer final after beating Indonesia 1-0

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Vietnam snuffed out Indonesia's dream of taking the Southeast Asian Games soccer gold medal for the first time in eight years, winning their semifinal on Thursday with a late goal.

Nguyen Hong Son scored in the 70th minute for the Tiger Cup champion to put them through to play defending Games champion Thailand for the gold medal on Saturday. Thailand, seeking a unique quadruple of titles, beat Singapore in the other semifinal.

Indonesia, runner-up on home soil two years ago, set up a rematch with Singapore for the bronze. Both played to a 1-1 draw in their group match on Friday.

The lone goal that sealed Indonesia's fate came after Hong Son collected a long pass and raced through a lax Indonesian defense to blast a right-footer at close range to the far post. Goalkeeper I Komang Putra's futile dive disappointed 1,500 Indonesian supporters.

Indonesia's German coach Bernard Schumm sent on Widodo C. Putro shortly after the goal to help strikers Bambang Pamungkas and Rocky Puttiray step up pressure on Vietnam, but the much awaited equalizer never came.

Indonesian officials, as usual, heaped the blame on their players.

Chairman of the All-Indonesian Soccer Federation (PSSI) Agum Gumelar said the team failed to follow its coach's instructions to mark Hong Son in defense.

"I'm very sad to see how the Vietnamese players could score that easily. I heard our players were carefully instructed to mark the player wearing jersey number eight, but he was there for the goal at the right moment," Agum said.

Agum also consoled the players by immediately going onto the soccer field after the final whistle. He told them to keep fighting in Saturday's match.

Schumm attributed the loss to individual mistakes and lack of experience of his players.

"We controlled the first half. During the break, I told them that Vietnam couldn't beat us as long as we did not make individual mistakes," he said, referring to captain Bima Sakti's failure to check Hong Son prior to the upset goal.

Schumm also defended his training methods, arguing that he could not prepare the players well in only six weeks before the Games.

Separately, Vietnam's Austrian coach Alfred Riedl said both teams were evenly balanced.

"Indonesian players made one fatal mistake in failing to control the defense. We thank God that Hong Son could take the opportunity," he said.

Riedl refused to speculate on his team's chances in the final.

"Thailand is the favorite here and we're only underdogs. We are not 100 percent sure of being able to win the final. I hope we can play with more self-confidence," he said. (ivy)