Meeting In The Final, This Is A Long Journey Between Indonesia And Thailand In The AFF Cup 2020

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JAKARTA - The semifinals of the 2020 AFF Cup have been completed. The Indonesian and Thai national teams that come out as winners will meet in the final round to fight for the true champion title.

The Garuda squad, which was included in Group B, was initially doubtful of being able to appear strong. Moreover, this group is dubbed the 'hell group' because it contains strong countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia.

However, this assumption was successfully broken by Evan Dimas et al through their achievements in qualifying for the semifinals after previously successfully winning Group B.

To be able to win the status of Group B champions, the national team must also go through a long journey that is not easy. With a fairly strong opponent, under the tutelage of Shin Tae-yong the Red and White team managed to record many victories.

In the first match in the group B phase against Cambodia, the national team managed to score a 4-2 victory at Bishan Stadium, Singapore on December 9. This victory is a slick capital for the national team to appear more confident in the next match.

The positive results of the inaugural match then continued, when against Laos on December 12, the national team appeared even more vicious. Shin Tae-yong's foster children were able to drown Laos with a landslide score of 5-1.

In the third meeting with Vietnam, the Indonesian national team was again able to show strength by holding back the defending champion during a 0-0 draw. Even though they have shown strength in the first three matches, the national team test is not really over.

Because in the final match as well as the decisive match, the national team actually faced eternal rivals, namely the Malaysian national team. In this duel, not only the semifinal ticket is up for grabs but also self-respect.

Playing with super high tension, Timas again proved that they deserved to be the winner. Because in this final match, Malaysia bowed 4-1 and automatically made Indonesia the winner of Group B.

With the status of Group B winners, the national team advanced to the semifinals against the host, Singapore, who was the runner-up in Group A. In the 2020 AFF Cup semifinals, the match itself carried a two-legged system.

This again did not dampen the fighting spirit of Evan Dimas et al. In the semifinal first leg, Indonesia and Singapore drew 1-1. Meanwhile, in the second second leg, the match was more difficult and tense.

The two teams drew 2-2 in normal time, the result made the referee continue the match into extra time where the national team won this match with a score of 4-2. The Garuda squad qualified for the final with a 5-3 aggregate victory.

In the final round, Indonesia has been waiting for Thailand, which has successfully defeated Vietnam in the semifinals. Both played two legs, Thailand won the first leg with a score of 2-0 and drew 0-0 in the second leg.

To be able to advance to the semifinals and beat Vietnam, Thailand first struggled hard in the group phase. Joined in Group A, the War Elephant Team managed to beat Timor Leste 2-0, Myanmar 4-0, Philippines 2-1 and Singapore 2-0.

Vietnam's Phan Van Duc (left) fights for the ball with Thailand's Chanathip Songkrasin in the 2020 AFF Suzuki Cup semifinal second leg (Photo: Antara)

Despite the hard struggle of Indonesia and Thailand to get to this point, the fight is not really over. Both teams still have to face the final which will also be held in two legs on 29 December and 1 January in Singapore.