AFF Cup: Indonesia beat 'diminished' S'pore side to head into final

KUALA LUMPUR: Indonesia advanced to the final of the 2020 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Cup after a thrilling 4-2 win over a Singapore side reduced to eight men by the end of the match, in the second leg of the semi-final last night.

The result saw the Garuda squad attain a 5-3 aggregate victory to fuel the mission of winning their first AFF Cup championship after five failed attempts in the finals previously.

Singapore had to toil for almost half of the 120 minutes of play with only nine players on the field at the Singapore National Stadium, as Safuwan Baharudin and Irfan Fandi were given their marching orders by the referee in the 45th and 66th minutes respectively.

Indonesia clearly capitalised on the opportunity by getting two goals in extra time, the first through Shawal Anuar's own goal in the 91st minute, before Egy Maulana scored the fourth goal in the 105th minute to confirm the victory.

Earlier, Erza Walian's 11th-minute goal put Indonesia ahead 1-0, which upped the tempo of the game before Singapore were dealt with a blow when Safuwan received his second yellow card at the end of the first half.

However, the decision by referee Kassem Matar Al-Hatmi from Oman did not dampen the spirit of Singapore, who equalised as soon as Safuwan stepped off the field through winger Song Ui-yong's free-kick.

The second half saw the match become even more intense, and Singapore were dealt with a second blow after Irfan was sent off for elbowing an opponent, but Singapore miraculously took a 2-1 lead through a free kick by Shahdan Sulaiman in the 74th minute.

With Singapore on the cusp of advancing to the final for the first time since 2012, substitute Pratama Arhan of Indonesia snatched a goal in 88th minute, but then gave away a penalty to the hosts just a minute later.

But alas, it was not Singapore's night as Faris Ramli's spot-kick was saved by goalkeeper Nadeo Argawinata in the 89th minute, which saw the game tied at 2-2 after 90 minutes of play.

In the 30 minutes of extra time, Shawal's own goal and Egy's goal denied Singapore the chance to reach the final, and Tatsuma Yoshida's side were forced to play with only eight men by the end of the match after goalkeeper Hassan Sunny was shown a red card for a foul outside the penalty box.

Indonesia will now await the result of the second-leg of the semi-final between Thailand and defending champions Vietnam tomorrow, to find out who their opponents will be in the final.

Thailand have a 2-0 advantage over Vietnam through the first-leg played on Thursday.

-- BERNAMA