AFF Cup: Indonesia Too Good For Myanmar

The Indonesian players were clearly energised by over 40,000 screaming fans and there was nothing Myanmar could do to stop them from winning tonight.

Budi Sudarsono scored the crucial opening goal in the 26th minute.

The wily striker waltzed past two defenders and blasted his team ahead.

Before the Myanmar players could recover, Firman Utina sent the fans into a frenzy again. Firman cooly rounded a defender and placed it beyond the reach of keeper Aung Aung Oo.

Star striker Bambang Pamungkas sealed a sensational victory for Indonesia in the 65th minute to place his team second in Group A behind Singapore who had whipped Cambodia 5-0 in the first match of the day here.

Myanmar, as expected, played defensively and tried to absorb all the attacks that went their way. But there was only so much they could do against the determined Indonesian players, who were not about to lose a third successive game to Myanmar.

One of the happiest people in Indonesia tonight was coach Benny Dollo.

"In all my life as a coach, I was never so nervous. You must understand that in the last few weeks, we lost twice to them. But we have worked very hard since then, I have pushed the boys in training and tonight we got the better of them," said a relieved Benny at the post match press conference. He said that he learnt from the earlier losses from Myanmar.

"They pressured us and forced us back into defence. Today, they pressured us again early but the boys fought back and after 15 minutes it changed and we struck the goals."

Myanmar coach Carlos Antonio Falopa, who congratulated Indonesia for their win, said that it was the nature of the game that teams won some matches and lost some.

"We played in front of our fans and beat them. Tonight, they had great support and they won. We made two mistakes and paid for it." "Their players showed great individual skill and they won. This tournament is not over as we still have more matches to play."

The next matches will take place on Sunday with Singapore taking on Myanmar and Indonesia facing Cambodia.