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ndonesia will resume its bid for the elusive SEA Games soccer gold when the under-23 team takes on rival Malaysia in a semifinal match at Zeyar Thiri Stadium in Naypyitaw on Thursday.

Indonesia last won soccer gold in 1991. It came close to ending the drought in 2011 at home, but Malaysia spoiled the party and ruined what would have been the icing on the cake for the eventual overall 2011 champion.

Coach Rahmad Darmawan refused to be overawed and said his side was ready to avenge the loss while admitting he was already familiar with the Malaysian game.

'€œWe'€™re now focusing on Malaysia, which has good teamwork and aerial play. We know how to deal with them,'€ he said as quoted in tribunenews.com.

Indonesia scraped through to the semifinals after eking out a 1-0 win over Myanmar. The other semifinal will pit Singapore against Thailand.

A win by the Garuda team will provide solace to Indonesia, which is currently struggling in the medal hunt.

As the end of the 27th SEA Games approaches, Thailand is far ahead in the medal standings, leaving Indonesia in a close race with Vietnam and Myanmar for second place.

Up until Wednesday night, Indonesia was able to add five more golds to its tally with victories coming from athletics (2), chess (1), kempo (1), and cycling (1). Indonesia sat in fourth position with 50 golds, 60 silvers and 71 bronzes.

Host Myanmar overtook Indonesia and moved into third with 53 golds, 45 silvers and 49 bronzes while Thailand and Vietnam took the top two positions with 73, 66, 62 and 54, 52, 62 respectively.

In athletics, Maria Londa grabbed her second gold at the SEA Games after winning the women'€™s long jump with an effort of 6.39 meters. Thailand'€™s Thitima Muangjan took silver with 6.24 meters followed by Thi Thu Thao Bui of Vietnam with 6.14 meters.

Maria broke the SEA Games record in the women'€™s triple jump a day before when she scored 14.17 meters, bettering the record of 14.08 that Thailand'€™s Thitima Muangjan set 2009.

In the women'€™s 3000-meter steeplechase, Rini Budiarti seized the second gold of the day after clocking 10:04.54 seconds. She finished first ahead Vietnam'€™s Thi Oanh Nguyen and Jessica Barnard of the Philippines.

In chess, Susanto Megaranto, who was paired with Muhammad Lutfi Ali, also won gold in the men'€™s transfer blitz event. Vietnam'€™s Dao Thien Hai/Nguyen Van Huy grabbed silver while another Indonesian pair '€” Farid Firmansyah/Masruri Rahman '€” took bronze.

In cycling, Indonesia'€™s men'€™s road race team comprising Robin Manullang, Aiman Cahyadi and Bambang Suryadi, topped the event with a time of 13:34:33 followed by Malaysia and the Philippines.

Indonesian chief de mission Asrizal Tanjung remained optimistic more golds were within reach to improve Indonesia'€™s position in the medal tally.

'€œThe distribution of the medals is even, which means participating countries are equal in strength,'€ he said.