Indonesia kick off Suzuki Cup campaign with 4-2 win over Cambodia
Indonesia's Evan Dimas (left) and Irfan Jaya celebrate a goal during their side's AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 group stage match against Cambodia at the Bishan Stadium on Dec 9, 2021. (Photo: SPORTFIVE)
Indonesia started their AFF Suzuki Cup 2020 campaign on the right foot by defeating Cambodia 4-2 in the second Group B match played at the Bishan Stadium in Singapore on Thursday (Dec 9).
Defender Rachmat Irianto emerged as the Indonesian hero by scoring two goals in the fourth and 33rd minutes, while skipper Evan Dimas and winger Ramai Rumakiek also found the net in the 17th and 54th minutes respectively.
Cambodia gave a commendable performance with their fast-paced game to score through a header by defender Yue Safy in the 37th minute and key striker Prak Mony Udom in the 60th minute.
Indonesia coach Shin Tae-yong was pleased with his side's first-half performance, but said that complacency set in during the second 45.
"It wasn’t an easy match, but fortunately we scored three goals in the first half so that was a positive, but the players thought that we could beat them easily after that, and that affected us in a bad way in the second half," he said.
“I feel that the players weren’t perhaps in 100 per cent physical condition, but I still have strong belief that we can play better moving forward.”
Cambodia coach Ryu Hirose took some positives from the six-goal thriller.
“Today we wanted to give some younger players a chance to feature, and I think that they started a little anxiously, but after some more experienced players came we settled down and played quite well," he said.
“This is a team that we are preparing for the future, so we want them to keep developing – both mentality and physically – and I think they showed that today.”
Malaysia currently lead Group B with six points after their 4-0 win over Laos earlier on Thursday. They are followed by Indonesia who are ahead of Vietnam on goals scored. Cambodia and Laos are fourth and fifth respectively, with no points so far.
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