Despite being rated superior and playing with more players from the 21st minute, Indonesia had to wait until the final minutes of the match to penetrate Timor-Leste's resilient defense at the neutral Chonburi (Thailand) stadium.
The turning point came in the 21st minute when Pereira Fowler of Timor-Leste received a second yellow card after fouling Thom Haye near the penalty area, leaving this team with only 10 players in the remaining nearly 70 minutes.
However, Indonesia faced many difficulties against the opponent's tight defensive and fierce counter-attacking style. Even Timor-Leste created some notable opportunities in the second half but could not take advantage of them.
It took until the 75th minute for Indonesia to break the deadlock. Mitchell Baker returned a favorable return for Shayne Pattynama to finish one touch in the penalty area, opening the score 1-0.
Just three minutes later, Thom Haye doubled the gap with a beautiful free kick from a distance of nearly 25m, giving goalkeeper Dylan Niski no chance to save.
In the 81st minute, Baker directly put his name on the scoreboard with a close-range tap-in after Oratmangoen's cross, sealing a 3-0 victory for Indonesia.
This is the second consecutive victory of coach John Herdman's team after crushing Cambodia 5-1 in the opening match. Indonesia currently has 6 points with a goal difference of +7 to temporarily lead Group A.
Meanwhile, Timor-Leste lost all three matches, respectively against Vietnam (0-7), Singapore (0-2) and Indonesia (0-3), officially running out of opportunities to compete for a ticket to the semi-finals.
This result also creates more pressure for the Vietnamese team in the race to win the top spot in Group A. Coach Kim Sang-sik's team will face Singapore in the match taking place on the evening of July 31 before entering the confrontation with Indonesia, a match predicted to be decisive for the top spot in the group.
