Group A frontrunners Indonesia and Thailand play out a 1-1 draw in the repeat of the 2020 AFF Championship final on Thursday. Despite the stalemate, the match at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium was quite an eventful one even before kick-off, and in the end Indonesia’s profligacy in front of goal costed them as defending AFF Championship winners Thailand managed to steal a point from Jakarta.
Controversy broke out as early as a few hours before kick-off after a group of Indonesian ultras had surrounded the bus carrying the Thailand players to the Gelora Bung Karno, hurling jeers at the Changsuek players in an attempt to unsettle them before the match. Things escalated shortly afterwards when some of the ultras began throwing rocks at the bus, causing damage to the vehicle’s windows.
That incident aside, Thursday’s match was an exciting encounter between Group A’s two pace-setters, with both Indonesia and Thailand having won all of their previous games. Shin Tae-yong’s Indonesia had edged out Cambodia 2-1 and demolished Brunei Darussalam 7-0, while Alexandre Polking’s Thailand saw off Brunei 5-0 and thrashed the Philippines 4-0.
Indonesia took charge of the first ten minutes of the match, testing Thailand goalie Kittipong Phuthawchueak through a chance carved out from an excellent teamwork between Egy Maulana Vikri and Witan Sulaeman.
Thailand then started to grew their influence in the game from the 20th minute mark, with Bordin Phala’s 22nd minute header being the first time that the Changsuek had threatened Nadeo Argawinata’s goal.
Witan then made the miss of the century in the 39th minute after he had managed to steal the ball off Kittipong and had the empty Thailand goal at his mercy, only to fluff his shot and fire wide.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 50th minute after Thailand captain Theerathon Bunmathan inadvertently handled an Asnawi Mangkualam shot in the area. Marc Klok was tasked in taking the ensuing penalty and he made no mistake, beating Kittipong easily to give Indonesia the lead.
Indonesia were then given further advantage in the 62nd minute after substitute Sanrawat Dechmitr was sent-off for a poor challenge on Saddil Ramdani.
However, with all the signs pointing towards an Indonesian victory, the Timnas Garuda once again buckled underneath their own advantages and conceded in the 79th minute, with Sarach Yooyen blasting home a cannonball past Nadeo following a lapse in the Indonesian defense.
No further goals were scored afterwards, meaning that the match ends in a 1-1 stalemate.
Group A’s other match on Thursday saw Brunei silencing the Morodok Techno National Stadium after Nurikhwan Othman managed to give the minnows a 21st minute lead over Cambodia.
Normalcy was restored ten minutes afterwards, however, after Choun Chanchav scored Cambodia’s equalizer, before the Angkor Warriors went on a rampage in the second half – both Nick Taylor and Keo Sokpheng scored one penalty each before Lim Pisoth bagged himself a late brace to make it 5-1 for Cambodia.
Thursday’s results saw both Thailand and Indonesia remaining neck-and-neck at the summit of Group A, with Thailand having a superior goal difference compared to Indonesia. Cambodia are third, waiting patiently for either Thailand or Indonesia to slip-up in order to sneak their way into the top two, while both the Philippines and Brunei have been eliminated.