INDONESIA THRASH MALAYSIA IN CRUCIAL TIE; MISAGH LEADS FILI OVER MYANMAR

The day also saw Philippines picking up their first win of the tournament as the mercurial Misagh Bahadoran led with four goals for the 5-2 win over Myanmar.

Indonesia, who had opened their campaign this year with a confident 7-4 win over Myanmar yesterday, were a lot more composed this time round as they defended in numbers and restricted Malaysia to just shots from outside the penalty.

“We were a lot more discipline this afternoon and we defended well. We still have two more matches to go and I don’t think that it is right to say that we are already in the final although the win over Malaysia was crucial,” said Robby Hartono, the head coach for Indonesia.

Just three minutes into the game, the Malaysians suffered the first goal when off a quick counter-attack, Sayan Karmadi played the ball short to captain Vennard Hutabarat who blasted the ball past keeper S. Devandran.

In the 12th minute Indonesia stretched their lead when Indra Kurnia relied on yet another fast counter-attack play to score as the game stood 2-0 to the advantage of Indonesia.

Malaysia attempted to find the equaliser after the break but they just could not find the space to get a shot in as Indonesia maintained their defensive discipline.

Seven minutes into the second half, Indonesia staged a blitz to score three goals in two minutes as Hairul Saleh Ohorella made good on a pass from Sayan before Indra completed his double and then Sayan finally making the score sheet for the first time.

Indonesia then completed the rout with the sixth and final goal of the game off a clever work play from Jaelani Ladjanibi.

“This is embarrassing,” said Hamidin Mohd Amin, the Malaysian team manager. “Now we don’t have a choice but to win both our next two matches and beat Vietnam. That too, if we can beat Vietnam.”

Myanmar once again showed that they can start strongly when they took the lead against the Philippines through a third minute strike from Htein Lin but in the end, the just did not have the material to carry them through as fell to a 5-2 loss.

Striker Bahadoran was the toast of the team on the day when he scored four goals (18th, 20th, 34th and 37th minute) as Ariel Zerrudo contributed the other in the 38th minute for the win.

Myanmar nailed their second goal of the game in the 30th minute.

“Against a team like Myanmar, we cannot play to our usual system so today we switched to the lone striker upfront and three players at the back. We did not have enough players for the tournament this year but I think that for next year, we will have a stronger team,” added Philippines head coach Ismaeil Sedigh.

“We had to of our key players injured and even though we scored the early goal, we just did not have enough material to make the substitutes and protect the lead that we had carved. We played badly in the second half and made far too many mistakes,” added Myanmar team manager Yei Htut Tin.

RESULTS and FIXTURES

5 April 2010: MALAYSIA 5 PHILIPPINES 3/ VIETNAM 8 MYANMAR 1

6 April 2010: PHILIPPINES 0 VIETNAM 4/ INDONESIA 7 MYANMAR 4

7 April 2010: INDONESIA 6 MALAYSIA 0/ PHILIPPINES 5 MYANMAR 2

8 April 2010: Malaysia vs. Myanmar (1400)/ Vietnam vs. Indonesia (1600)

9 April 2010: Philippines vs. Indonesia (1400)/ Vietnam vs. Malaysia (1600)

10 April 2010: REST DAY

11 April 2010: Winner vs. Runner-up (1600)