Indonesia rocked by injuries ahead of crucial Laos clash
Indonesia coach Alfred Riedl has admitted that his side are low on morale ahead of their must-win AFF Suzuki Cup clash with Laos on Friday.
The Merah Putih must defeat the already-eliminated Laotians if they are to have any chance of joining the Philippines in qualifying for the semi-finals in Group A.
However, four-time finalists Indonesia must accomplish the task without Dutch-born striker Sergio van Dijk and midfielder Imanuel Wanggai.
Riedl said: "We have two players out due to injuries - this is our striker Sergio van Dijk and our midfield player Imanuel Wanggai.
"They will not be on the list tomorrow, but the rest are OK.
"We are looking forward to this match against my former team Laos and hopefully we can land a win so we don’t go home completely empty handed.
"I would be happy to win the match against Laos because we are not in a situation right now where we can think about a high score. We have to win as our team is very down."
Goal difference
Indonesia will need the Philippines to dispatch hosts Vietnam during their simultaneous kick-off on Friday. On top of that, they will have to make up for a goal difference of seven goals on the Vietnamese.
While his team remains in the equation, Riedl isn't expecting a lot of help from the Azkals.
The Austrian said: "For the match between Philippines and Vietnam, I am expecting a close match with a close result.
"I don’t believe one of the teams can win by a high score."
Booth wants Laos win
Their opponents won't be offering any favours either.
While Laos do not have nothing but pride to play for, coach David Booth has called on his troops to exit the competition with a flourish.
The Englishman said: "We are in a very similar situation for both teams tomorrow. At this moment we have no points and two losses and our goal difference is very poor, but we also don’t want to go home empty handed. We don’t want to go home with nothing from what we have tried to do.
"I think we proved in the last game if we have to defend we can defend. We could have probably kept the game at 1-0, but we decided at 1-0 we might try to score."
Source: AFF Suzuki Cup official website
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