Everything changed with 16 minutes left in the game, when Indonesia equalised, dragging the match to a penalty shoot-out.

In the decider, Malaysia, the defending champions, failed at two attempts while Indonesia only needed to score once.

The national squad opened the score in the 16th minute through Danial Asyraf Abdul Ghani, before Muhammad Firdaus Omar added another five minutes later and in the 24th minute, Faridzul Afiq Mohd scored Malaysia’s third goal.

The Indonesians fought back with goals in the 37th minute by Muhammad Firdaus, followed by Ferdian Rahman before Revo Priliandro’s penalty corner in the final minute sent the game to a penalty shoot-out.

Malaysia’s gold medal hopes ended when they lost 1-2 after Izham Azhar and Syed Mohamad Syafiq Syed Cholan failed to convert their penalty strokes.

Malaysia had won the gold medal in the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, defeating Thailand 3-1 in the final. The event was not contested at the games held in Hanoi last year.

After the match, coach Hanip Che Halim said his players had put up their best performance but the mistakes at the end of the game cost them dearly.

“I can say that our players played very well, but a little carelessness at the last moment caused this (defeat). They put up a strong performance and we strengthened the defence, but the carelessness at the end let us down,” he said.