Indonesia have given their hopes of reaching the semifinals of the men's football tournament at the 31st Southeast Asian Games a huge boost with a 4-0 win over Philippines on Friday, also ending their opponents' own quest in the process.
Having already found their way in behind the opposition backline on a number of occasions in the opening exchanges, Indonesia finally capitalised to duly take the lead in the 18th minute.
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Afforded plenty of space down the right, Egy Maulana advanced on goal before laying a pass across the face of goal to leave Muhamad Ridwan with the simplest of tap-ins at the far post.
Ridwan then almost turned provider two minutes after the half-hour mark when his incisive pass released Witan Sulaeman, who rounded Philippines goalkeeper Quincy Kammeraad but was just unable to get enough purchase on his shot -- which allowed the recovering Jaime Rosquillo to intercept as the ball was trickling towards the unguarded goal.
Nonetheless, a second goal for the Indonesians eventually arrived a minute before halftime when Syahrian Abimanyu swung in a freekick from the right that saw Kammeraad come off his line to deal with but fail to get there ahead of Rizky Ridho, who was able to glance a header into the back of the net.
Philippines did their best to mount a fightback in the second half but were just unable to really mount a challenge, with their best opportunity coming two minutes before the hour mark with Jovin Bedic being released inside the area by a delightful flick by Dennis Chung but only able to smash a shot back off the bar with just Ernando Ari to beat.
With 16 minutes remaining, the result was put beyond doubt by pouncing after Philippines cheaply gave away possession inside their own area, allowing Indonesia to swiftly carve out an opening for Egy to clinically dispatch a shot home for his second of the campaign.
And just for good measure, the Indonesians added a fourth with Marselino Ferdinan sending Kammeraad the wrong way from the penalty spot, after fellow substitute Ronaldo Kwateh had been clipped by Kike Linares inside the box while looking to race through.
The result means Indonesia are now joint-second in Group A and a solitary point behind defending gold medallists Vietnam, who continued their unbeaten start to the campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Myanmar later in Friday's second game.
Having spent much of the game struggling to carve open a resilient Myanmar outfit, the breakthrough finally arrive in the 76th minute when an overlapping Le Van Do cut a pass back to the feet of captain Do Hung Dung -- who did brilliantly to adjust his feet and instinctively guide a first-time effort into the bottom corner.
With one round of Group A fixtures remaining on Sunday, Vietnam are favourites to advance as winners given they finish up against bottom side Timor-Leste, while Indonesia and Myanmar -- level on six points -- will meet in what is promising to be a winner-takes-all tie.