Christian Gonzalez strikes again, finishing off a wonderful team play with a cracking whack towards the top left corner from 18 yards out.

Indonesia played the Philippines for the second leg of the AFF cup semifinals, beating them 1-0 and advancing to the finals to meet rivals Malaysia. What a game that would be, with the rivalry between us extending way off the pitch as well.

Indonesia rained barrages of attacks from the first whistle, mostly through the flank by excellent telepathic teamwork by winger Okto Maniani and fullback Nasuha.

The Philippines looked frustrated as they couldn’t find a way in, and their playmaker and main source of inspiration, Phil Youngusband, was completely isolated, unable to make his trademark runs or defence-splitting passes. Their frustration was summarized by numerous yellow cards and eventually a sending off of one of their players.

A packed Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta (the most massive crowd i’ve ever seen show up for a game there) ignited with delight as the final whistle blew, and it was deafening. People have been coming over from all corners of our vast archipelago and sleeping there for days just waiting to get tickets. Also, I just recently found out that our Gelora is the 8th largest football stadium in the world, with its full capacity at 100,000. WOW :)

Another proud moment to be an Indonesian