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Indonesia advances to AFF Cup finals
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Indonesia's Manahati Lestusen celebrates after scoring a penalty in extra time to ensure Indonesia's win over host Vietnam at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi on Dec. 7. (AFF Suzuki Cup/File)
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ndonesia has ensured its slot in the final of the ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup 2016 soccer championship after drawing with Vietnam 2-2 to win 4-3 on aggregate in an away leg match at My Dinh stadium in Hanoi.
Indonesia will take on the winner of the semifinal legs between Thailand and Myanmar.
The final slot will be the fifth for the Red-and-White team who have, however, never won the tournament.
Two goals for Indonesia were scored by Stefano Lilipaly in the 54th minute and Manahati Lestusen who netted a penalty after makeshift goalkeeper Qui Ngoc Hai felled an attacker in the box during extra time.
Host Vietnam was dominant throughout the match even though its goalkeeper Tran Nguyen Manh was shown a straight red card by referee Fu Ming in the 77th minute.
The Golden Stars’ Vu Van Tanh pulled a goal back for Vietnam with seven minutes to go. Substitute Vu Minh Tuan forced extra-time with a last-gasp goal to make the score 3-3 on aggregate.
The final matches will be held on Dec. 14 and Dec. 17.
Indonesia and Vietnam have met 22 times in various competitions with Indonesia winning nine of them with five matches drawn.
Indonesia, which many international pundits regarded as an underdog in the AFF Suzuki Cup, started the 11th edition of the biennial competition with some difficulties. It once sat at the bottom of Group A in the group stage after being crushed by Thailand 2-4 and achieving only a 2-2 draw against host the Philippines. Indonesia only paved its way to the semifinals after defeating Singapore 2-1 in the final game of the group stage.
In the other semifinal match, Thailand will take on Myanmar in the first leg at Yangon on Sunday. The return leg will be played in Bangkok on Thursday.
