Forced to work hard before an Egy Maulana Fikri second half goal secured a 1-0 win at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium on Thursday, Indonesia struck early in the reverse fixture. 

 

A corner kick in the ninth minute saw Thom Haye picking out Jay Idzes’ late run into the box and the Venezia FC defender thumped in a header past Nguyen Filip.

Vietnam tried to find a quick equaliser and two minutes later, a cross from the right found Nguyen Tien Linh in the middle but his header from close range was well caught by Ernando Ari.

 

The Garudas doubled their lead in the 23rd minute when Ragnar Oratmangoen drove into the box from the left, leaving four Vietnamese players trailing before firing a low shot into the bottom far corner.

 

Vietnam should have pulled one back at the half hour mark after Vu Van Thanh found Tien Linh unmarked inside the box but the latter dragged his attempt just wide.

Philippe Troussier’s side toiled for a best part of 15 minutes at the start of the second half but to no avail, forcing the Frenchman to take a gamble by sending on Nguyen Van Toan and Ho Tan Tai for Tien Linh and Pham Xuan Manh respectively.

 

However, that did little to change the home side’s fortunes with Ari well protected by the centre-back pairing of Idzes and Rizky Ridho in front of him. In fact, Indonesia added a third deep into stoppage time through Ramadhan Sananta to seal the victory.

 

The next set of fixtures on June 6 will see Indonesia take on already-qualified Iraq in Jakarta while Vietnam will be looking to bounce back when they host Philippines.