Left Behind First, Indonesian National Team Beat Timor Leste 4-1

JAKARTA - The Indonesian national team managed to close the inaugural meeting with Timor Leste with satisfactory results. In the FIFA Matchday match, the Garuda squad won 4-1.

The duel between the Indonesia vs Timor Leste national team took place at the I Wayan Dipta Stadium, Bali. In the match which took place on Thursday, January 27 at 19.00 WIB, the Garuda squad had fallen behind first.

Timor Leste has really lived up to their promise to surprise Indonesia. Fabio Magrao's team first broke into the Garuda squad's defense through Paulo Freitas' brilliant effort in the 35th minute.

The Garuda squad tried to appear more pressing in order to catch up. However, the efforts of Shin Tae-yong's foster children still did not produce results until halftime.

Missing one goal in the first half was clearly a big pressure for Evan Dimas et al, but calmly they tried to create chances to equalize.

That effort finally bore fruit in the 65th minute, where the bait provided by Ronaldo Kwateh could be processed properly into a goal by Ricky Kambuaya and changed the score to 1-1.

Kambuaya's equalizing score made the national team's hope to win swell again. It was even sweeter because Evan Dimas et al got a golden opportunity through the execution of a penalty.

Appointing Pratama Arhan as the executor, good fortune favored Indonesia. Arhan's directional hard kick brought the national team to a 2-1 lead over Timor Leste. Opportunities to boost the FIFA rankings are even more wide open.

The game got hotter towards the last minute because Timor Leste was still working hard to fulfill its promise to surprise the national team. However, instead of succeeding, the surprise turned to them instead.

The reason is, two own goals from their players even added to the contribution of goals for the Garuda Squad. Goalkeepers Mendoca da Silva and Filomeno found the net in the 77th and 80th minutes.

The big mistake Timor Leste made at the last minute was an advantage for the national team. Until the referee blew the long whistle, the final score was 4-1 in favor of the national team.

The 4-1 victory achieved by Evan Dimas et al in the first trial match against Timor Leste is good news. Because, it is certain that Indonesia's ranking in FIFA can push up, moreover there is still a second meeting which will take place on January 30 next.