HANOI (25 Nov 2014) – Philippines made the semi-finals of the AFF Suzuki Cup this year when they scalped Indonesia 4-0 in the second match of Group A that was played at the My Dinh National Stadium.
And while Indonesia might have escaped with the one point from their first game against Vietnam, there was no repeat this time round when the Philippines dominated play from start to finish.
“We are of course very happy with the win and to make the semi-finals this year,” said Philippines coach Thomas Dooley. “We were looking for an outstanding performance and tonight the whole team was excellent.
“We controlled the game and where in the end we achieved our target which was to make the semis.”
Given the preparation time that the Philippines had, it came as no surprise that they were all over Indonesia right from the outset. Misagh Bahadoran was a handful down the left flank while the introduction of captain Firman Utina failed to ignite Indonesia.
And in the 16th minute, it was Firman who was penalised for a tug on Misagh with the ensuing penalty easily converted by Philip Younghusband as he sent Kurnia Mega the wrong way.
Despite falling behind for much of the first half, there was no fight back from Indonesia at the start of the second and lack of diligence at the back in the 52nd minute saw Misagh playing it short to Manuel Ott who had little difficulty to curl the ball in past Kurnia.
In the 68th minute, an indirect free kick was blasted into goal by Martin Steuble as Indonesia found themselves a man down five minutes later when Rizki Pora for impeding Philip. Defender Robert Gier then rounded things off in the 79th minute with a toe poke following a mad scramble.
“There is no excuse for the loss tonight It was a game between fit players and those who are unfit,” added Indonesian coach Alfred Riedl. “It was a similar game as was our first (against Vietnam) but this time round, the Philippines had little trouble converting their chances.
“Don’t blame the players. They tried hard but it was a question of the mind wanting while the body just can’t fulfil it.”
