Unsportsmanlike conduct must be eliminated.

(HNMO) - On the evening of May 16, the U22 Indonesia team defeated the U22 Thailand team in the final match of men's football, winning the 32nd SEA Games gold medal after 32 years of waiting.

U22 Indonesia players celebrate the goal.

With the importance of the match, the final match for the 32nd SEA Games Gold Medal was intense from the first minutes, and then "heated up" when the referee had to show 7 red cards and 12 yellow cards. With great determination, the U22 Indonesia team won 5-2 to win the SEA Games Gold Medal. However, the image of the final match became ugly when the two teams "fought" right on the Olympic stadium with destructive tackles.

With a strong and resilient physical foundation, U22 Indonesia dominated the game, forcing Thailand to constantly chase the score. Midfielder Ramadhan Sananta of Indonesia took advantage of the mistakes of the expensive central defenders of the U22 Thailand team to score a double in the 20th and 45+3rd minutes. With the first goal, U22 Indonesia played much more confidently than U22 Thailand. Although they also had dangerous plays, U22 Thailand could not finish them off. This also made them pay the price when Indonesia scored the second goal. In the 65th minute, Anan narrowed the score for U22 Thailand from a corner kick. It was also from this goal that narrowed the score that the match became even more dramatic. The "War Elephants" constantly looked for opportunities to equalize the score while U22 Indonesia tried to prolong the match.

The two teams clashed, causing the referee to issue seven red cards.

The turning point of the match took place in the 90+7 minute, when the referee blew the whistle when U22 Indonesia was leading U22 Thailand 2-1. The coaching staff and reserve players of U22 Indonesia thought that was the final whistle. Immediately after that, the members of U22 Indonesia rushed onto the field to celebrate the victory and hugged each other, crying in front of the bewildered referee and U22 Thailand players. The referee then had to signal that the match was not over. Taking advantage of U22 Indonesia's momentary lapse in concentration, player Yotsakor scored the equalizer 2-2 for U22 Thailand.

Chaos broke out after Jauhari scored, with players from both sides fighting again. The referee had to ask the monitors to intervene to identify the aggressors, and issued five red cards to players and assistants from both sides; one of which was given to Thai goalkeeper Soponvit.

Not stopping there, in the 101st minute, Jonathan ran out of energy and committed a foul, leading to a second yellow card, which became an indirect red card. At this time, U22 Thailand only had 9 players left on the field. In the second extra time, the U22 Indonesia player with excellent physical strength dominated the game to score two more goals, sealing a 5-2 victory over U22 Thailand. Before the match ended, U22 Thailand player Terasak received another indirect red card and left the field.

Undeniably, the final match between U22 Indonesia and U22 Thailand brought fans a feast of goals and an exciting score chase. However, no matter how exciting the score chase in the final was, it was difficult to erase the ugly image when the two teams turned the Olympic stadium into a fighting ring, continuously committing fouls and destroying each other. In addition to the rain of red cards (7 cards), the referee pulled out 12 yellow cards and had to stop the match many times to remind and restrain the players of both teams. What's even sadder is that in addition to the players, the coaching staff members were also "ready" to rush into fights, forcing the security forces to intervene.

With their sad behavior in the final match, U22 Thailand and U22 Indonesia went against the spirit of sportsmanship , solidarity, friendship, and promoting nobility in sports - in line with the spirit set forth by the SEA Games Organizing Committee.

After this match, surely football fans will know about the U22 Indonesia SEA Games champion, but it is also difficult to forget the ugly image that the players showed in this match.

The competition days at the Games have ended. Hopefully, those involved and the football federations of the two countries will seriously look back to eliminate ugly images and unsportsmanlike play from the SEA Games in particular and other football tournaments in the Southeast Asian region in general.

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