The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Philippine national football team's dreams to go beyond the 2010 AFF Suzuki Cup semis were crushed Sunday night, with their match ending 1-0 in favor of Indonesia.

Indonesia's Cristian Gonzales struck in the game's 42nd minute, giving his team the game's first and only goal. He let loose a left-booted strike from outside the penalty area, off a rebounded clearoff attempt that was way out of star goalkeeper Neil Etheridge's reach. Gonzales was also the hero of the first match, in which Indonesia prevailed 1-0.

This proved to be enough to sink the Philippines' Azkals, who went down by a total of 2-0 on aggregate to the Group A winners. The Indonesian squad, monickered "Merah Putih," will have to contend with Malaysia, who dethroned defending AFF Cup holders Vietnam by holding them to a scoreless draw in the second leg for a 2-0 scoreline on aggregate.

The double-leg Finals will begin on December 26 in Kuala Lumpur.

Silver lining

Although the Azkals will be heading home empty-handed and scoreless after the double-leg semi-finals, they have gained a lot of supporters and admirers along the way.

Their best attempts on goal were in the second half under intense defensive pressure from their foes, with a header by Chris Greatwich finding its way just a few meters high from the crossbar.

Bahranian referee Ali Hasan Ebrahim Abdulnabi had his hands full trying to get a grip on an intensely physical and heated matchup, with over 80,000 football fans in attendance at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Megawati Sukarnoputri as guests of honor.

A total of three yellow cards in the first half alone were assessed to the Philippines, one each for Greatwich, Ian Araneta and Rob Gier. Greatwich was given his second yellow card of the match, tantamount to a red card, in the 86th minute, and left the PHL booters with only 10 men to finish the contest.

Up next: 2012 AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers in February

Though this was the end of the road for the Simon McMenemy-mentored club in the tournament, they have a bigger task at hand in their upcoming matches in the 2012 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup, a lower tier international competition for developing Asian football nations, beginning in February.

In a draw conducted on October 20, the Philippines will be facing Mongolia in a double-round playoff in 2011, on February 9 and 16. If the Azkals do advance, they will take part in the group stages, where they will be clustered in Group A alongside Myanmar, Palestine, and Bangladesh.

Other squads in the biennial tournament include this year's champions North Korea (DPR Korea), Nepal, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Maldives, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Afgahanistan, Chinese Taipei, Laos, Cambodia and Macau.

FINALS
MALAYSIA vs. INDONESIA
Leg 1 (December 26, 2010)
National Stadium, Kuala Lumpur

Leg 2 (December 29, 2010)
Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta