Monday, January 10, 2005 - Indonesia mauled by hungry Lions :

Indonesia mauled by hungry Lions


Indonesia vs Singapore  

Indonesia 1 (Mahyadi Panggabean 90+4) Singapore 3 (Daniel Bennet 5, Khairul Amri 39, Agu Casmir 69) (HT: 0-2)
Tiger Cup Final, 1st Leg - Stadium Utama Senayan

Jakarta – Singapore have one hand on the Tiger Cup thanks to a thoroughly deserved 3-1 win over 10-man Indonesia on Saturday night.

First-half goals from the outstanding Daniel Bennett, who got married on Wednesday, Khairul Amri, making his first start of the tournament, and Nigeria-born Agu Camsir silenced 110,000 passionate fans in the cavernous Utama Senayan Stadium before Mahyadi Panggabean struck for the home side with the last kick of the game to give Peter Withe’s side a lifeline ahead of next Sunday's second leg..

Indonesia, Tiger Cup runners-up in 2002 and 2000 tournament’s, are by no means out of this tie, and proved when they came from behind to beat Malaysia in the semi-final, that they are more than capable of overturning the deficit at the National Stadium.

To do so, they will have to find a way past a Singaopore defence which held firm until Mahyadi’s last-gasp long-range effort. Bennett and Aide Iskander, playing in his fifth Tiger Cup, were rocks at the back, their timely interventions in the air and on the ground keeping Indonesia’s much-vaunted strike force quiet for large periods of the game.

If Indonesia are to win their first Tiger Cup, they will have to do so without centre halves Mauli Lessy, who was sent off early in the second half for two yellow cards, and Charis Yulianto, who picked up his second booking of the knockout stage and will serve a mandatory one-game suspension. Boas Salossa, who limped away from the action midway through the first half after injuring his ankle, is also a major doubt.

Singapore, who have yet to taste defeat in the tournament, will also need to make do without an important member of their side, Noh Alam Shah’s first-half yellow card coming on top of a booking he picked up in the semi-final. His one-match ban will keep him out of the final. It was the only stain on a superb evening for the Lions.

Indonesia, playing in their third consecutive Tiger Cup final, showed one change from the side which started the second leg of the semi-final against Malaysia, coach Peter Withe dropping right back Ismed Sofyan and bolstering his attacking options by giving Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, one of two Indonesia players who featured in the 1998 semi-final defeat to Singapore (the other being Hendro Kartiko, the keeper), only his second start of the tournament. Ilham Jaya Kesuma, the tournament’s leading scorer, was his partner up front in a 4-4-2 formation.

Raddy Avramovich, meanwhile, shuffled his pack with Itmi Dickson, who had started every game of the tournament, making way for Khairul Amri for his first start of the tournament. Up front, Noh Alam Shah was again preferred to Indra Sadan Dad, whose two-goal heroics helped the Lions beat Myanmar in a tempestuous semi-final.

Captaining the Lions was Aide Iskander who, along with fellow defender S. Subramani, has played in all five Tiger Cups since the tournament began in 1996.

In a frenetic start to the game, Singapore took the lead after just three minutes – and never looked back. Hasrin bin Jailani touched a quickly-taken free-kick into the path of the Singapore left-back, who looked up and pulled the trigger from 25 yards. His powerful shot looked to be heading towards Hendro in the Indonesia goal but the ball glanced off Firmansyah on the edge of the box and looped over Hendro into the far corner of the goal to give Singapore a dream start.

Roared on by their supporters, Indonesia put the goal behind them and poured forward down the flanks, with Elie Aboy and Boas Salossa causing panic in the Singapore defence with their pace and strength.

Elie, managing for once to get the better of Bennett, cut the ball into the box from the by-line to into the path of Salossa, after 10 minutes. Lionel Lewis, the Singapore keeper, tried, and failed, to cut the danger off by coming off his line but Salossa’s snap-shot grazed the outside of the post with the goal gaping. Had that gone in, it might have been a very different evening.

Lewis redeemed himself moments later when rushing off his line to deny Illham with his feet at the edge of the Singapore box after the striker had been put through by Syamsul, the Indonesia central midfielder. Lewis was to repeat the feat five minutes later on the same player.

Singapore were on the back-foot and threatened only occasionally, although Noh Alam Shah nearly doubled the Lions’ lead when he sneaked behind the Indonesia defence to get on the end of Bennett’s flighted free-kick. His header lacked power and the ball fell into the hands of a grateful Hendro.

The home side suffered a huge blow on 27 minutes when the rampaging Boas Salossa was injured in a tackle by Baihakki and was withdrawn. Firman Utina stepped into his place on but he does not have Salossa’s pace and Indonesia’s lost their cutting edge down the left flank.

Singapore doubled their lead on 40 minutes when Khairul hammmered home at the far post after Hendro parried Noh Alam Shah’s low drive from the right into the path of the Young Lions midfielder. Credit should go to Casmir for keeping the ball in play down the left and for passing infield to Hasrin who played the ball into Alam Shah’s path.

It was to be Khairul’s last act of the game, Singapore coach Avramovic withdrawing him from the fray after the 19-year-old has had the wind knocked out of him by Elie.

Indonesia’s chance of getting back into the game were dealt a massive blow minutes into the second half when Mauli Lessy was sent off for his second yellow card. This forced Withe to shuffle his pack again and Singapore made the most of the numerical advantage when substitute Itmi Dickson managed to hold off the attentions of Firman and cut a ball into the box for Casmir to touch home from three yards out on 69 minutes.

Indonesia tried to find a way back into the game in the remaining 21 minutes but they could not find a way past the Singapore back four until added time when Mahyadi struck with a free-kick to breathe new life into a tie that looked to have slipped out of Indonesia’s reach.

Lai Min Dzi blogged at 8:34 pm