The youthful Malaysian side, full of confidence after beating defending champions Vietnam 2-0 on aggregate in the semifinals and sensing a first ever AFF Suzuki Cup crown, ran riot during a spellbinding 12-minute period in the second half to take control of the two-legged final.

Goal-machine Safee Sali scored twice with substitute Ashari Samsudin also getting his name on the score sheet much to the delight of the partisan home crowd.

Safee soared to the top of the scoring charts with four goals.

It will be tempting for Malaysia to park a yellow and black bus in front of their goal and soak up what is sure to be wave after wave of Indonesian pressure in the second leg.

That tactic worked against Vietnam in the cauldron-like My Dinh Stadium when Malaysia successfully safeguarded a 2-0 lead and with the glittering prize within their grasp Rajagobal may go for the pragmatic over the daring.

Indonesia coach Alfred Riedl has plenty to occupy his mind before the second leg after his team hit the self-destruct button when play resumed after a six-minute delay to allow organizers to deal with the issue of lasers being pointed in the eyes of some Indonesian players.

He will have to decide whether or not to stick with striker Cristian Gonzales, who had a quiet game after his goal-scoring heroics in the semifinal, or call in the cavalry and hand the iconic Bambang Pamungkas his first start of the tournament.

Irfan Bachdim, the new poster boy of Indonesia football, may also be in line for a recall in place of Yongki Aribowo, who starred in the second-leg of the semifinal against the Philippines but failed to reach similar heights on Sunday.

Riedl rates Indonesia's chances of pulling back three goals in 90 minutes as "slim" but recent history points to it being far from a mission impossible.

Indonesia hammered Malaysia 5-1 in their opening game of the AFF Suzuki Cup and in the semifinals of the 2004 tournament they came from 3-1 behind on aggregate to score four goals in the final 31 minutes of the second leg to win 5-3.

The videos of those games will be required watching as Riedl tries to motivate his team for one last push towards glory and a first AFF Suzuki Cup title.

Source: AFP