Steven Danis
Football Tribe Indonesia
The only Indonesian representative remaining in AFC Cup, PSM Makassar, continued their journey into the second leg of ASEAN zone semi-final with one goal deficit after their away game against Becamex Binh Duong. Unfortunately, PSM still sails home after a long Asian competition despite winning 2-1 against Becamex in this match.
Becamex have done well in the AFC Cup so far, winning five consecutive games from the group stage until the first leg against PSM. In fact, their record has been better than any other AFC Cup contestant this season.
The hosts were given a boost as their league game against Arema, which scheduled for last Sunday, was postponed by the PSSI to help PSM focus on their Asian match. The challenge then became how they could produce their best over 1.5000 kilometers away from home. Their stadium in Makassar is unfit to host AFC matches, meaning that they had to play in front of an almost empty stadium in Bogor.
Darije Kalezic fielded his best players including Eero Markkanen and M. Rahmat in the starting eleven with dynamic Dutch duo Wiljan Pluim and Marc Klok in midfield. But Becamex looked to press the host and get many chances from Nguyen Tien Linh and Wander Luiz in the first ten minutes.
PSM themselves got a good chance in the 23rd minute after Nguyen Thanh Hao fouled Asnawi Manguakalam Bahar and earned a freekick for the hosts. Wiljan Pluim sent a cross into Becamex’s penalty box but unfortunately, Rizky Pellu’s header went wide of Tran Duc Cuong’s net.
PSM got another chance due to the panic situation in Becamex’s penalty box after Rasyid Bakrie’s acrobatic shot was parried by Duc Cuong, with the ball supposedly making contact with defender Thanh Hao’s hand. However, the referee did not award the spot kick.
At the end of the first half, PSM were punished by Becamex. as Ho Tan Tai’s corner kick was met by Wander Luiz at the far post, who headed the ball towards Rivky Mokodompit’s net and gave the visitors the lead.
The goal shortly before half-time forced Kalezic to prepare a more attacking approach, and as such, he made a substitution by bringing on Zulham Zamrun from the bench to replace Pellu. The substitute put in a cross to Markkanen at the 56th minutes but the Finnish striker couldn’t convert it. The ex Real Madrid Castilla striker once again wasted a chance by his head after Benny Wahyudi sent in a cross at the 67th minutes.
In the last 15 minutes, Kalezic made another substitution that affected the team greatly. First, the Dutch coach subbed in Guy Junior for Rasyid Bakri on the 73rd minutes. Just two minutes after entering the pitch, Guy helped the side an equalizer from a unique situation as Ho Tan Tai heading the ball from Zulham’s cross into his own team’s net under pressure from the hosts two strikers.
Another substitution came at the 81st minutes as Ferdinand Sinaga came on for Abdulrahman Sulaiman. Surprisingly, PSM scored their second goal from the corner kick taken by Zulham, finding Aaron Evans at the back post. The Australian defender’s shot managed to nutmeg substitute Ferdinand, confusing the goalkeeper and allowing it to get over the line.
But until referee Abdel Faisal blew the final whistle, the hosts were unable to find the goal which would have overturned the deficit and send them into the next round. However, the side can sail home with pride having fought right until the end. The ASEAN final itself will be the All Vietnamese Final, as Becamex will meet Hanoi, who beat Ceres-Negros in the other semi-final. Ceres failed to complete their hattrick after winning the zonal tournament for the past two seasons.