Indonesia have turned in one of the most exhilarating performances at the 2020 AFF Suzuki Cup as they thrashed Malaysia 4-1 to book a spot in the semi-finals, topping Group B in the process.

After a stunner from Kogileswaran Raj put Malaysia ahead in the 13^th minute it was all Indonesia for the remainder of the contest with a first-half brace from Irfan Jaya sending them to the break with a 2-1 lead.

Another stunning goal, this time from Pratama Arhan in the 50^th minute, and a towering 82^nd minute header from substitute Elkan Baggott rounded out a win that coach Shin Tae-yong said saw everything go exactly to plan.

“Before we came to the stadium I told the team that even if we conceded the first goal to make sure that they didn’t panic and to just play with confidence.

“I stressed also to not lose duels and fight hard for every ball so I’m very happy to see this young team improve match by match.”

The match started at a brilliant tempo, one that was reflected by the quality of the goal that saw Malaysia take the lead as a quick throw-in was poorly dealt with by the Indonesian defence with the ball falling to Kogileswaran who smashed home an absolute screamer from distance that beat a diving Nadeo Argawinata.

The Garuda then had a decent penalty shout waved away before Malaysia too were denied a strong appeal as Safawi Rasid felt he was pushed in the back midway through the half.

Malaysia had a chipped effort from Syafiq Ahmad go narrowly wide with Nadeo having raced off his line before Indonesia struck as some intricate short passing at the top of the box saw Witan Sulaeman square a ball that Irfan stroked home in the 36^th minute.

Seven minutes later Indonesia then capped a thrilling half as left-back Pratama danced into the box and saw his cross deflected into the path of Irfan who slid home for his second to send his nation to the break with a 2-1 lead.

Malaysia suffered a key blow as the tournament’s joint top-scorer, Safawi, failed to return for the start of the second half after picking up a shoulder injury and their hopes of progression were dealt a hit just five minutes after the restart.

A corner from the left was taken and regathered by Irfan with his pass teeing up the impressive Pratama who lasered home a shot from a tight angle just outside the top of the box to make it 3-1.

Irfan then dragged an effort from a good position wide before much of the sting went out of the match although Witan did well to set up substitute Kushedya Yudo who had his effort blocked, but that led to the corner that saw another substitute in the towering Baggott head home to make it 4-1 in the 82^nd minute.

For Malaysia it was a disappointing campaign that sees the runners-up from 2018 dumped out in the group stage, with coach Tan Cheng Hoe saying he was naturally disappointed by that outcome.

“We didn’t have our two central defenders tonight, we conceded sloppy goals, got caught out by quick goals and now we need to regroup for the next matches and other competitions.”