BANGKOK (26 Dec 2022) – A double from veteran striker Teerasil Dangda led Thailand to a 4-0 win over the Philippines as Indonesia pulverised Brunei Darussalam 7-0 in the two Group A matches of the AFF Mitsubishi Electric Cup 2022 this evening.
“The target was the six points in our first two matches. We dominated the game and we created a lot of chances, so it was a good night,” said Thailand head coach Alexandre Polking.
At the Thamassat Stadium and in front of almost 7,000 fans, defending champions Thailand turned on the charm early with captain Teerathon Bunmathan swinging in a freekick that was headed into goal by Teerasil.
From then, Thailand were in total as they rarely looked back and prevented the Philippines from going forward.
After some consistent offensive play from either flank with Teerathon playing a free role, the concession of a penalty in the 41st minute when Amani Aguinaldo brought down Ekanit Panya gave Teerasil the chance to double the advantage.
The score was 2-0 for Thailand into the second half.
In the 58th minute, Teerasil turned provider with a cross that was slammed into goal by the waiting Adisak Kraison as five minutes later, it was 4-0 with a fine finish from the far post off Suphanan Bureerat.
At the Kuala Lumpur Football Stadium, Indonesia ran riot when they smashed Brunei DS 7-0 to set up a mouth-watering encounter in their next game against Thailand in Jakarta.
“We did not set a target of scoring how many goals against Brunei DS as that would be disrespectful. We are just focussed on going out there to win the game,” said Indonesia head coach Shin Tae-yong.
Syahrian Abimanyu broke through with the opener in the 20th minute as Dendy Sulistyaman added the second in the 41st minute for the score to stand at 2-0 at the break.
The second half was all Indonesia with goals from Egy Maulana Vikri (59th minute), Ilija Spasojevic (60th), Ramadhan Sananta (68th), Mark Klok (86th) and Yakob Sayuri (90th +2).
After the round of matches tonight, Group A will head into the decisive tie with Indonesia entertaining Thailand at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.
The winner of the game would most likely also win the group.
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