Indonesia Crowned Inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup Champions After Penalty Shootout Win Over Thailand
Jakarta, The Gulf Observer: Indonesia were crowned the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup champions after defeating Thailand 4–2 on penalties following a thrilling 2–2 draw after extra time in the final at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Monday.
The historic victory marked Indonesia’s first international football trophy outside its previous Southeast Asian Games gold medal achievements. The triumph was secured in front of a capacity home crowd as Indonesia held its nerve in a dramatic final.
Indonesia started strongly, enjoying greater possession and creating early attacking opportunities, while Thailand relied largely on counter-attacks.
The match took a decisive turn in the 80th minute when Thailand defender Nicholas Mickelson was shown a second yellow card and sent off, leaving his team with 10 players.
Indonesia took advantage four minutes later when Dean James’ free-kick deflected off Thailand’s Iklas Sanron and found the net to give the hosts a 1–0 lead.
Thailand responded quickly, with Sanron equalizing in the 87th minute to make it 1–1 and force the contest into extra time.
Despite being a player down, Thailand regained the lead in the 111th minute when Peeradol Chamrasamee completed a counter-attack to put the visitors 2–1 ahead.
Indonesia refused to give up and restored parity in the 116th minute. Rizky Ridho’s low cut-back was parried by Thai goalkeeper Saranon Anuin, allowing Elkan Baggott to score from the rebound and level the match at 2–2.
The championship was subsequently decided by a penalty shootout, where Indonesia displayed remarkable composure.
Kevin Diks, Dean James, Elkan Baggott and Shayne Pattynama successfully converted all four of Indonesia’s penalties. Thailand’s Sarach Yooyen and Nattaphon Sayriya failed to score, with the decisive misses handing Indonesia a 4–2 shootout victory and the historic title.
The victory made Indonesia the first-ever champions of the FIFA ASEAN Cup, while Thailand finished as runners-up. Malaysia secured third place after defeating Vietnam 1–0 in the classification match.
