Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Bangkok: Thailand moved one step closer to winning the 2014 ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Championship on Wednesday after beating Malaysia 2-0 in the first leg of the final.
After neither side were able to find the breakthrough in the opening half, the War Elephants were handed the perfect opportunity to take the lead in the 70th minute when they were awarded a penalty after Adisak Kraisorn had been felled by Fadhli Shas inside the box.
Despite being under intense pressure, Charyl Chappuis kept his cool and fired past Farizal Marlias into the bottom corner to put his side in front, notching his third goal of the campaign in the process.
And four minutes from the end, the hosts went on to seal the win when Prakit Deeprom’s visionary through-ball sent Chanathip Songkrasin racing through on goal, where he proceeded to unselfishly lay a pass off for Kroekrit Thaweekarn to finish into the unguarded net.
Thailand are now 90 minutes away from being crowned champions of Southeast Asia for a fourth time - and the first time since 2002 – while Harimau Malaya will need to produce something special in Saturday’s second leg if they are to emulate their title success from four years ago.