Indonesia Vs Malaysia, "Garuda Muda" Advances to AFF Cup Final After Defeating Malaysia 1-0 (2024)

English›Indonesia Vs Malaysia, "Garuda...

Indonesia advanced to the second final after beating Malaysia 1-0 in the AFF U-19 Cup semifinals in Surabaya.

SURABAYA, KOMPAS - Goalkeeper Haziq Aiman's failure to hold the ball in the 78th minute won Indonesia, 1-0, over Malaysia in the semifinals of the AFF U-19 Cup, Saturday (27/7/2024) night, at Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium, Surabaya, East Java. Indonesia advanced to the second final or after successfully becoming champions in the 2013 Indonesian edition.

In the final, Indonesia will face Thailand, the most successful team in the tournament with five championship titles and two finals. Three hours earlier, Thailand won 1-0 against Australia from a self-goal by Dylan Leonard in the 13th minute. In the battle for third place, Malaysia will face Australia. The third-place match and the final will take place on Monday (29/7/2024) in Gelora Bung Tomo.

This is Indonesia's first victory over Malaysia in nine meetings in the AFF U-19 Cup, the Hassanal Bolkiah Cup (U-19), and the Asian Cup U-19 qualifications. In the previous eight meetings, Indonesia was only able to draw four times against their fellow Malay archipelago brothers.

The four draw results were achieved during the 2002 AFF U-19 Cup with a score of 3-3, the 2005 edition also with a score of 3-3, and the 2013 edition with a score of 1-1, and then the 2014 Hassanal Bolkiah Cup with a score of 0-0. Defeats were suffered in the 2003 AFF U-19 Cup with a score of 1-3, the 2018 edition semifinals with a penalty shoot-out score of 2-3, the 2019 edition semifinals with an extended time score of 3-4, and the 2018 Asia U-19 Cup qualifier with a score of 1-4.

The birth of Indonesia's goal came from a situation of turmoil in Malaysia's goal. Defender Alfharezzi Buffon's kick hit the body of Malaysia's defender, bounced off and hit Haziq Aiman's body, but went in. This goal was confirmed to be Alfharezzi's.

The course of the game saw Indonesia pressing in the early minutes of the match. In the 2nd minute, Arkhan Kaka's header utilized Mufli Hidayat's throw-in but missed the top of Haziq Aiman's goal.

On the 11th minute, Figo Dennis' speculative kick missed to the right side of Malaysia's goal. On the 14th minute, Mufli Hidayat's throw-in was controlled by Raven but was blocked by Malaysia's defense.

On the 33rd minute, Kadek Arel's header from a corner kick was blocked and Alfharezzi Buffon attempted to strike, but it only resulted in a goal kick for Malaysia. In the 36th minute, Malaysia's defender cleared Mufli Hidayat's throw-in. The score remained 0-0 at halftime.

During the first half, Indonesia dominated by making three shots but all of them missed. Malaysia made one shot that also missed. However, Malaysia generally had a better advantage in dangerous attack movements than the threat posed by the home team Indonesia.

In the early stages of the second half, Malaysia began to exert pressure. In the 49th minute, defender Amir Farhan's shot was blocked by goalkeeper Ikra Algiffari. In the 51st minute, Pavithran Gunalan's speculative shot resulted in a corner kick but did not turn into a goal for Malaysia.

On the 54th minute, the counter-attack and shot by substitute attacker Rifki Afrisal were foiled by Haziq Aiman. A minute later, Malaysia launched a counter-attack and earned a corner kick, but it turned into a goal kick for the home team. On the 63rd minute, captain Dony Tri's shot was blocked and flew over Malaysia's goal, resulting in a corner kick but ultimately failed to become a goal.

In the 68th minute, Welber Jardim's kick, which received a pass from Jens Raven, missed the Malaysian goal. In the 70th minute, Malaysia made a substitution by pulling out Izzat Syahir and Muhammad Naim and bringing in Faris Danish and Abid Safaraz.

Indonesia responded two minutes later by pulling out Muhammad Kafiatur and putting in Toni Firmansyah. In the 73rd and 74th minutes, Welber Jardim's shot from outside the penalty box went over. However, the match ended with a win for the host team.

Meanwhile, defender Dylan Leonard's own goal in the 13th minute secured a 1-0 victory for Thailand over Australia in the semifinals. Thailand advanced to their eighth final to try to win their sixth trophy in the tournament since 2002.

Thailand will face Indonesia in the final. Australia will compete against Malaysia for third place. The first match will start at 3 PM WIB for the third place position. The final match will take place at 7:30 PM WIB.

The eighth championship for Thailand came after their previous wins in 2002, 2009, 2011, 2015, and 2017 along with their defeats in the 2010 and 2016 finals. Out of the 18 editions, only four times has Thailand failed to make it to the semifinals, which were in 2003, 2005, 2013, and 2019. Thailand did not participate in the Vietnam 2012 edition.

The own goal was purely Leonard's fault for passing the ball to goalkeeper Dylan Peraic-Cullen. Leonard passed to Dylan to secure the ball from the threat of wingback Pikanet Laohawiwat's movement.

However, Dylan's right foot failed to stop Leonard's pass. The ball slid into the goal and became the only goal, cheered and laughed by the audience. This was the only goal that was scored, sending Thailand's "Young War Elephants" to the final.

Being one goal behind forced Australia to attack more dominantly. In fact, since the 68th minute, Australia had a numerical advantage after midfielder Rapeephat Padthaisong was sent off the field by referee Razlan Jofri Ali (Malaysia) for receiving two yellow cards.

Australia had a golden opportunity to score a goal in the 74th minute. However, the substitute midfielder Zane Sam Helweh's shot, which was blocked by captain and goalkeeper Kittipong Bunmak, hit the goalpost and bounced out. Despite dominating the game with six shots and two on target, twice as many as Thailand, Australia failed to produce a goal, let alone win the game.

"We failed to overcome the mistakes and the advantage of the number of players. Thailand played well. We have to settle for competing for third place," said Australia coach Trevor Morgan.

Thailand coach Emerson Pereira Da Silva (Brazil) said his team was aided by luck in their victory over Australia. However, he was relieved that his team played with discipline and were able to overcome Australia's dominant attacks. "We are ready to wait for our opponent in the final," he said.