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Malaysia Into AFF Final, Where Indonesia Awaits
Sandy Pramuji | April 09, 2010

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Indonesia remained perfect in Vietnam as it beat the Philippines 4-0 on Friday in the AFF Futsal Championship to finish round-robin play with the best record.

In Sunday’s final at Phu Tho Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City, Indonesia will meet Malaysia, which finished second in the table after it upset host Vietnam 2-0 also on Friday.

Indonesia, which clinched its place in the final on Thursday with a 2-1 victory over the host, won all four of its games in the group stage.

With Indonesia already through to the final and the Philippines out of contention, Friday’s game was a lot more open at the start, but it was Indonesia that capitalized on its goal-scoring opportunities.

Socrates Matulessy hit a brace and Karismawan also found the back of the net, while an own goal from the Philippines’ Misagh Bahadoran rounded out the scoring.

Despite the win, Indonesia coach Robby Hartono made it clear that he was unhappy with the performance of his players.

“We still need to be more stable in our approach to our opponents,” Robby told the AFF Web site. “We should start at the same level whoever we are up against. Like today, we were a little lax at the start against the Philippines and that’s not good.”

Ruzaley Abdul Aziz and S Devandran scored Malaysia’s goals as it advanced to the final.

“The mission to avenge our loss to Vietnam has been accomplished. Now, we hope to do the same against Indonesia in the final,” said Hamidin Mohd Amin, the Malaysia team manager.

Indonesia has won its last three meetings with Malaysia, including a 5-3 triumph in the AFC Futsal Championship Asean zone qualifiers in February, which ensured Indonesia’s passage to the tournament proper.

Whichever team wins the final, the AFF Championship will crown a new champion.

Mighty Thailand, which had won all seven previous tournaments, chose not to take part in the tournament this year. Instead, its players stayed at home to take part in a local competition, the Thailand 5s.