Ten-man Indonesia hold Malaysia

In front of a raucous crowd at the Gelora Bung Karno there was friction, fractionally wide misses and fabulous saves as Malaysia and Indonesia played out a scoreless draw in their FIFA ASEAN Cup™ section turner.

The split points keeps both nations one clear of Singapore ahead of Thursday’s final group fixtures, where the Lions meet Malaysia in the Causeway Derby, and co-hosts Indonesia tussle with winless Bangladesh.

FIFA ASEAN Cup | Group A

Malaysia 0-0 Indonesia

With both nations having won their opening FIFA ASEAN Cup fixtures, top spot was on the line in the latest instalment of the Nusantara Derby.

Things were tight over a tense opening spell that saw Malaysia come the closest as firstly Faisal Halim and then Nooa Laine flashed efforts narrowly wide. The complexion of the clash then changed as the hosts Thom Haye was shown, after a VAR review, a straight red for a challenge on the lively Arif Aiman.

Even a man down, Indonesia didn’t look to sit back and they saw Dean James force Syihan Hazmi into a diving save before captain Kevin Diks smashed an effort from a tight angle into the side netting.

A pair of Malaysian substitutes, firstly Paulo Josue and then Fergus Tierney, pushed headed efforts wide of the target before a fine Maarten Paes save and then a superb Justin Hubner goal-line clearance denied the visitors late on, as things finished scoreless in the capital.