2007 AFF Championship
International football competition
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The 2007 AFF Championship was the sixth edition of the AFF Championship, the association football championship of Southeast Asia. The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) retrospectively identifies it as the 2006 edition.[1] The AFF stated that the tournament was intended to be held at the end of 2006 but, because of technical issues, was instead organised in early 2007.[1]
Thailand
(group stage)
| 2006 Kejohanan Bola Sepak ASEAN 2006 東盟足球錦標賽 2006 ஏசியான் கால்ப கோப்பை 2006 อาเซียนฟุตบอลแชมเปียนชิพ | |
|---|---|
| |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Singapore Thailand (group stage) |
| Dates | 12 January – 4 February 2007 |
| Teams | 8 |
| Venues | 4 (in 3 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Singapore (3rd title) |
| Runners-up |  Thailand |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 18 |
| Goals scored | 50 (2.78 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Noh Alam Shah (10 goals) |
| Best player | Noh Alam Shah |
← 2004 2008 → | |
The final tournament was played from 12 January to 4 February 2007, while its qualifying competition was held in Bacolod, Philippines, from 12 to 20 November 2006.[2] The group stage was co-hosted by Singapore and Thailand, followed by two-legged semi-finals and a two-legged final.[2]
It was the first edition held after the end of Tiger Beer's title sponsorship and was therefore known simply as the ASEAN Football Championship.[1] It was also the last edition in which Singapore used the National Stadium before its redevelopment.[1]
Singapore successfully defended the title it had won in 2004, defeating Thailand 3–2 on aggregate in the final. Singapore's run under coach Radojko Avramović extended to 15 AFF Championship matches without defeat and 17 matches without defeat overall since a 4–0 loss to Malaysia on 18 December 2002.
Hosts
The group stage was co-hosted by Thailand and Singapore from 12 to 17 January 2007. Thailand staged Group A at the Supachalasai Stadium and Thai Army Sports Stadium in Bangkok, while Singapore staged Group B at the National Stadium and Jalan Besar Stadium.[2]
Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam advanced from the group stage. Under the competition's home-and-away knockout format, those four countries hosted matches during the semi-finals and final from 23 January to 4 February 2007.[2]
Qualification
The qualifying competition for the lower-ranked Southeast Asian teams was held at Panaad Stadium in Bacolod, Philippines, from 12 to 20 November 2006.[2] Five teams contested a single round-robin group, with Laos and the Philippines finishing first and second respectively and advancing to the final tournament.[2]
The November 2006 qualifying competition formed part of the championship edition that the AFF had intended to complete at the end of 2006. The final tournament was delayed until January and February 2007 because of what the AFF subsequently described as “technical issues”.[1] This was the first AFF Championship qualification competition held since 1998.
Six teams qualified directly for the final tournament:
Two teams qualified through the qualification competition:
Laos (qualification winners)
Philippines (qualification runners-up)
Qualified teams
The following eight teams qualified for the tournament.
| Country | Previous best performance |
|---|---|
| Thailand | Winners (1996, 2000, 2002) |
| Singapore | Winners (1998, 2004) |
 Indonesia | Runners-up (2000, 2002, 2004) |
 Malaysia | Runners-up (1996) |
 Myanmar | Fourth-place (2004) |
 Vietnam | Runners-up (1998) |
 Laos | Group stage (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004) |
 Philippines | Group stage (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004) |
Squads
Venues
| Bangkok |
Hanoi | |
|---|---|---|
| Supachalasai Stadium | Thai Army Sports Stadium | Mỹ Đình National Stadium |
| Capacity: 40,000 | Capacity: 20,000 | Capacity: 40,192 |
 |
 |
 |
| Singapore |
Shah Alam | |
| National Stadium | Jalan Besar Stadium | Shah Alam Stadium |
| Capacity: 55,000 | Capacity: 6,000 | Capacity: 80,372 |
 |
 |
 |
Final tournament
Group stage
| Key to colours in group tables |
|---|
| Top two placed teams advanced to the semi-finals |
Group A
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thailand |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 7 |
| Malaysia |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 4 |
 Myanmar |
3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Philippines |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | −8 | 1 |
| Malaysia | 4–0 | Philippines |
|---|---|---|
Hairuddin  9', 80' Nizaruddin 16' Del Rosario  69' (o.g.) |
Report |
| Thailand | 1–1 | Myanmar |
|---|---|---|
| Suchao 90+4' |
Report | Si Thu Win 25' |
| Thailand | 4–0 | Philippines |
|---|---|---|
| Sarayuth 15', 28' Pipat 21' Natthapong 84' |
Report |
| Myanmar | 0–0 | Philippines |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Group B
| Vietnam | 9–0 | Laos |
|---|---|---|
| Lê Công Vinh 1', 28', 58' Phan Thanh Bình 29', 73' (pen.), 81', 84' Nguyễn Văn Biển 45', 90' |
Report |
Knockout stage
Note: Although the knockout stages were two-legged, away goals rule was not applied. If the total aggregate score of both teams after both matches remained the same, extra time would have been played, followed by a penalty shootout if necessary.
| Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| A1 | Thailand
| 2 | 0 | 2 | |||||||||
| B2 | Vietnam
| 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| A1 | Thailand
| 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| B1 | Singapore
| 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| B1 | Singapore (a.e.t.)
| 1 | 1 | 2 (5) | |||||||||
| A2 | Malaysia
| 1 | 1 | 2 (4) | |||||||||
Semi-finals
- First Leg
- Second Leg
2–2 on aggregate. Singapore won via a penalty shootout.
Thailand won 2–0 on aggregate.
Final
After a group stage with two pools of four, the two host nations met in a two-game final. In the first leg of the final, a controversial penalty was awarded to Singapore at the 83rd minute of the match, and the Thailand team walked off the pitch as a protest to the referee's decision. The Thailand team returned to the pitch at the 98th minute, and Singapore later won 2-1.
In the second leg of the final, Singapore had a goal controversially chalked off for being offside, but finally drew 1-1 to fellow Thailand, with Khairul Amri scoring the decisive goal in the closing stages of the match, giving Singapore their 2nd title in succession, winning with an aggregate score of 3-2 and successfully defending the title. While Thailand can point to the controversial penalty for their defeat in the first leg, they failed to defeat Singapore in the second leg in Bangkok. It could have been worse for Thailand had the match officials seen Thai midfielder Datsakorn Thonglao headbutt Singapore's Khairul Amri to vent his anger after the equaliser.[3]
First leg
Second leg
Singapore won 3–2 on aggregate.
Awards
| 2007 AFF Championship |
|---|
 Singapore Third title |
| Most Valuable Player | Golden Boot |
|---|---|
| Noh Alam Shah |
Noh Alam Shah |
Goalscorers
- 10 goals
- 4 goals
- 3 goals
- 2 goals
- 1 goal
- Own goal
Supardi Nasir (playing against Vietnam)- Anton del Rosario (playing against Malaysia)