AFF U-19 Laos draws Indonesia

As expected, the rain came down hard just an hour before the match and that changed the tempo of the game for both Laos and Indonesia – two sides well known for their hard running, passing game.

“The boys fought hard when we were down 3-1 and that spoke a lot about their character,” said Zulkilfi Alfat, the chief coach of Indonesia.

“I told the players that they must not give up even when they are down and that it was important for them to fight all the way until the final whistle.”

Indonesia were the early aggressors and they were quick to take the lead in the 15^th minute when Muhammad Jamil Khairi played the ball back for captain Syahru Ramadhan to score.

But the loss of defender Suherman for Indonesia for a second bookable offence in just ten minutes later handed Laos the initiative and they were rightly nailed the equaliser off an innocuous shot from Sengdao Inthilath three minutes later.

They then grabbed a 2-1 lead at the half off a strike from Xaisongkham Champathong in the 39^th minute.

In the 65^th minute, Indonesia fell further behind when Souliya Syphasay nailed the third goal for Laos with a curling freekick which had Indonesian keeper Goldy Aulia Rizan firmly rooted.

But with the two-goal advantage, over confidence began to seep into the Laotian game for Indonesian captain Syahru to score his second goal of the evening in the 82^nd minute when he capitalised on a mistake from Laos keeper Soukthavy Soundala.

Then deep in injury time, Indonesia finally scored the al-important equaliser when Rahmat Saputro broke through the Laos defence to score.

“We were lucky in the first half when Indonesia got the red card,” said Veunsavanh Sivisay, the chief coach of Laos.

“We made some mistakes in the second half and we let in a late goal.

Source: ASEANFOOTBALL