Football: Thais, Indonesian send ominous warning to title rivals at AFF C’ship
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Witan Sulaiman of Indonesia celebrates his goal during the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 Group A soccer match against Cambodia on Dec 23, 2022.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
KUALA LUMPUR – Goals rained down at the AFF Championship on Monday, as Indonesia and defending champions Thailand hammered their hapless opponents Brunei and the Philippines by a collective 11-0.
Both have won their first two games in Group A and face off in Jakarta on Thursday to decide who will enter the semi-finals as group winners.
Indonesia, perennial bridesmaids in the regional tournament having reached six finals and losing them all, had laboured to a 2-1 win over Cambodia on Dec 23 but found their rhythm against the Bruneians in a 7-0 thrashing.
Dominating the match – Indonesia finished with 71.3 per cent possession – right from the first whistle, it took them 20 minutes to open the scoring at the Kuala Lumpur Stadium as Syahrian Abimanyu drilled a low shot past Haimie Nyaring.
Things got worse soon after for Brunei as fullback Alinur Jufri received his second yellow card and was sent off.
From the resulting free kick, Indonesia won a corner and Dendy Sulistyawan scored at the far post to put them 2-0 up.
There was no let-up in the second half as Egy Maulana Vikri, Ilija Spasojevic, Ramadhan Sananta, Marc Klok and Yakob Sayuri got on the scoresheet.
In the later game at the Thammasat Stadium in Pathum Thani, veteran striker Teerasil Dangda scored a first-half brace – he now has a record 22 goals at the biennial tournament since his debut in 2008 – to lead Thailand to a comfortable 4-0 win over the visiting Filipinos.
Further strikes from Adisak Kraisorn in the 57th minute and Suphanan Bureerat six minutes later sealed the three points for the War Elephants, who are aiming for a record-extending seventh AFF crown.
Teerasil, 34, has been involved in two of those triumphs in 2016 and 2020. On this form, few would bet against him or Thailand claiming another championship in a few weeks.
