Thu, 28 Oct, 2021

Jakarta: Indonesia survived a late Turkmenistan fight-back to win 4-3 on Thursday and progress to the third round of FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifiers with a 5-4 aggregate victory.
Indonesia were the only team to avoid defeat on the road in the first leg of the second round qualifying matches and they made the most of their home advantage as they raced to a 3-0 half-time lead.
Uruguay-born Cristian Gonzales opened the scoring with quarter-of-an-hour at the Gelora Bung Karno before the Uruguay-born Persib Bandung striker doubled Indonesia's advantage eight minutes later.
Mohammad Nashua made it 3-0 on the night and 4-1 on aggregate three minutes before the break as Indonesia appeared to be cruising towards a place in the third round draw.
But the 26-year-old Persija Jakarta defender inadvertently gave Turkmenistan a lifeline when he scored on 70th minute own goal only for Muhammad Ridhuan to restore Indonesia's three-goal advantage six minutes later.
The visitors' hopes of getting back into the match were dealt a massive blow two minutes later when Bahtiyar Hojaahmedov was sent off but the ten-men of Turkmenistan instigated a late rally with two goals in a three-minute spell.
Berdy Shamuradov scored the Central Asian' second in the 83rd minute before Gahrymanberdy Chonkaev kept his nerve to make it 4-3 from the penalty spot with four minutes left on the clock.
However, time was against the Turkmen and they couldn't get the vital fourth that would take them through on the away goals rule as the Indonesians held on for the victory that seemed a lot more certain at the end of the first-half.