Indonesia bounce back, rout Mongolia with ease
>> Indonesia crushed Mongolia 7-0 in their second Group H game of the AFC U23 Championship qualifiers at Supachalasai Stadium yesterday.
The massive victory reignited Indonesia’s hopes of making it to the final stages of the championship after suffering a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Malaysia on Wednesday.
The winners of the 10 qualifying groups plus the five best runnersup advance to next year’s AFC U23 Championship in China.
Hosts Thailand and Malaysia, the two other teams in the group, were to face off late last night at the same venue.
Mongolia, who had surprised everyone by restricting Thailand to a 1-1 draw in their first match which was played under a heavy downpour and on a soggy field, proved no match for the Indonesians yesterday.
Indonesia attacked at will and scored freely in the lopsided encounter.
Midfielder Saddil Ramdani opened the scoring for the Indonesians with a strike in the 17th minute.
Two more goals followed for Indonesia with striker Marinus Manewar (31st minute) and defender Gavin Adsit (34th) finding the net.
The tactical changes employed by Mongolia after the break were to no avail as the Indonesians kept making inroads.
Ramdani was once again the first to hit the mark in the second half, netting his team’s fourth goal in the 56th minute.
Osvaldo Haay added his name to the list of scorers with a goal in the 71st before Adsit picked up his second two minutes from the final whistle.
There was more agony in store for the Mongolian minnows as Septian Maulana slid one into the net in the last minute to complete the 7-0 rout.
Indonesia coach Louis Milla said: “We left some of the players from our first match on the bench today, but this is a victory for the entire team. I am happy with the way we have recovered from the loss against Malaysia.
“I hope the players will gain confidence from this win. We need them to perform against Thailand [tomorrow] as our qualification for the final stage hangs on the result of that game.”