By Michael Church
(Reuters) – Defending champions Thailand fought back from going a goal behind and seeing a player sent off to earn a 1-1 draw with Indonesia in Jakarta in the Asean Championship on Friday in a re-run of last year’s final.
Sarach Yooyen’s heavily deflected strike from the edge of the area 11 minutes from time secured Mano Polking’s side a share of the points after his team mate Sanrawat Dechmitr had been sent off.
Marc Klok had given Indonesia the lead from the penalty spot five minutes after the interval and Sanrawat’s straight red card 12 minutes later looked set to further swing the game in the home side’s favour.
But Indonesia, who lost last year’s final 6-2 against the Thais over two legs in Singapore, were unable to hold on and Sarach’s equaliser means Thailand remain on top of Group A with Shin Tae-yong’s side in second on goal difference.
Cambodia consolidated their hold on third place in the group with a 5-1 thrashing of Brunei in Phnom Penh, with the win maintaining hopes of a top two finish and a place in the semi-finals.
Nurikhwan Othman gave Brunei the lead with a 21st minute header but Cambodia levelled after Tes Sambath turned the defence inside out before delivering for Choun Chanchav to score from close range.
Penalties from Nick Taylor and Keo Sokpheng in the 50th and 73rd minutes respectively put the Cambodians in control and Lim Pisoth scored twice in the final 10 minutes to complete a comprehensive win.
Cambodia take on Thailand in the final round of Group A matches on Jan. 2 knowing victory will see them advance for the first time with Indonesia facing the Philippines, who cannot progress to the next round following Thursday’s results.
Ten nations from across Southeast Asia are facing off in the Asean Championship, with the teams split across two groups and playing one another on a single round-robin basis.
The top two teams in each group advance to the semi-finals, which will be played on a home-and-away basis on Jan. 6 and 9, with the final to be held on Jan. 13 and 16.
(Reporting by Michael Church in Tokyo)
