Lions to play Indonesia in semis

And then there were four.

Indonesia and Vietnam joined Singapore and Thailand in the AFF Suzuki Cup semi-finals after winning their respective final group-stage matches yesterday.

Vietnam thumped Cambodia 4-0 at the Bishan Stadium while Indonesia sent Malaysia crashing out of the tournament after a 4-1 win in front of 7,082 fans at the National Stadium.

The Vietnamese and Indonesians have identical records after completing the four group games - 10 points and a goal difference of nine. But Indonesia (13) have scored more goals than Vietnam (nine) and hence clinched first spot in Group B.

This means that Singapore, who finished second in Group A, will face Indonesia in the two-legged semi-finals on Dec 22 and 25.

Defending champions Vietnam will take on five-time winners Thailand on Dec 23 and 26.

Malaysia coach Tan Cheng Hoe had called it a do-or-die mission and his players rose to the occasion initially, starting the match with high intensity.

And after a frenetic, end-to-end opening to the match, they struck first through a superb strike from midfielder Kogileswaran Raj in the 13th minute.

But the goal woke the Indonesians up and in an eight-minute spell in the first half, Team Garuda staged a comeback and took the game by the scruff of its neck.

In the 36th minute, a brilliant team movement saw Witan Sulaeman square the ball to Irfan Jaya for an easy finish inside the box.

Irfan then grabbed his second of the night in the 43rd minute as he prodded home from close range.

Malaysia were unable to keep up with Indonesia and five minutes after the restart, the latter extended their lead through Pratama Arhan's sensational left-footed drive from outside the box. Substitute Elkan Baggot scored the fourth and final of the contest in the 82nd minute.

Tan said after the game: "We had a good lead but due to the intensity of the game and with our natural centre-backs missing, we conceded sloppy goals.

"The tempo was high and we know Indonesia have fast and fit players, we could not contain them on the transition. We got caught by quick goals."

Indonesia coach Shin Tae-yong credited his team for sticking to the game plan, saying: "Before the match, I told my boys that even if we concede first, we should not panic and we must play with confidence. The players carried that out well."

Indonesia left-back Pratama said: "We won the match because we played together as a team. We won't stop here and we will work harder to achieve our goal of making it all the way to the final."

While the Vietnamese and Indonesians celebrated yesterday after booking their place in the last four, there was sombre news from Singapore's camp.

The Lions' Asean Football Federation Championship campaign received another blow with key defender Shakir Hamzah ruled out of the rest of the tournament.

In a statement yesterday, the Football Association of Singapore said that following a medical examination, the defender, 29, was confirmed to have injured the anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and meniscus of his right knee.