Indonesia’s Austrian coach Alfred Riedl assured fans that the team was in peak form and no major changes would be made to the line-up for the semifinal.

“It will be a different kind of match on Saturday. In general, we are in good shape,” he told journalists on Friday.

The squad will play its opponent at Pakansari Stadium in Bogor, West Java, without two solid defenders Fachruddin Aryanto and Yanto Basna, who have been ruled out due to yellow card accumulation. Gunawan Dwi Cahyo, Manahati Lestusen and Hansamu Yama Pranata could be possible replacements.

Riedl also said he had assigned a “trident” attacking force of players who are believed to be on Vietnam’s watch list — Boaz Solossa, Andik Vermansyah and Stefano Lilipaly — to orchestrate Indonesia’s offensive.

With this weapon up his sleeve, Riedl promised that Indonesia would go all out in pursuing victory on Saturday.

However, former player Robby Darwis offered his criticism in hope of the team’s betterment, saying that the players still lacked communication, which he considered to be the team’s biggest problem.

“They often look impatient in building their attack and thus end up with unexpected results,” he told the Goal Indonesia soccer news website.

Sudirman, another former player, said the players were “too eager” and robbed themselves of making good decisions on the field.

“They must keep up their concentration and limit unnecessary mistakes on the park,” he said.

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s coach Nguyen Huu Thang confirmed that Indonesia’s trident attack of Boaz, Andik and Stefano would be defended with priority.

“Aside from other good players, these three have proven themselves [to be] dangerous during the qualifiers, therefore I will assign my players to keep them busy during the game,” he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Thang maintained that his team’s fighting spirit was high even though it would have to do battle with Indonesia without one of its best strikers Truong Dinh Luat, who cannot line up in Saturday’s match due to suspension.

The former Vietnam national captain said he had readied Tran Dinh Dong as Luat’s replacement.

The second leg in Hanoi is scheduled for Dec. 7.

Against Vietnam, Indonesia deserves to be confident after its last performance in a friendly match at Maguwoharjo stadium in Sleman, Yogyakarta. Indonesia led 2-0 before having to settle for a 2-2 draw. In another recent meeting, Indonesia had to bow down to the northern neighbors 3-2.

Vietnam finished Group B on top after convincing performances against Myanmar, Malaysia and Cambodia in the group stage in the Philippines. Indonesia finished Group A second, behind Thailand.

The other semifinal match pits Thailand against Myanmar, who finished as Group B runner-up. Myanmar will host the first leg on Sunday before taking the return match to Bangkok on Dec. 8.

Indonesia has never won the AFF Cup — a tournament participated in by Southeast Asian nations — having finished runner-up in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2010. Vietnam was a past winner in 2008.

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