The football event began on Friday (August 10), more than a week before the Opening Ceremony of the Games in Jakarta and Palembang on Saturday (August 18).

In their first match today, the hosts saw off their opponents in Group A in comfortable fashion at the Patriot Chandrabhaga Stadium in Bekasi, West Java.

The first half ended goalless in front of an excitable home crowd, but the hosts then scored four without reply in the second 45 minutes to take their first three points of the competition.

Stefano Lilipaly opened the scoring in the 67th minute with a near-post header from Febri Hariyadi's in-swinging left-footed free kick from the right.

Alberto "Beto" Goncalves added the second just three minutes later, before Stefano scored his second with an overhead kick in the 76th minute.

Substitute Muhammad Hargianto then added a fourth in injury time to give Indonesia the perfect start to the competition.

Palestine lead Group A, having played twice already.

They first drew 0-0 with Chinese Taipei and then beat Laos 2-1.

They sit on four points in front of Hong Kong and Indonesia, who both won their first matches.

Hong Kong beat Laos 3-1.

Chinese Taipei are fourth on one point while Laos are bottom with two defeats.

Group A is the only pool underway and is the only one with five teams after a mistake in the draw initially saw Palestine and the United Arab Emirates excluded.

The UAE have since withdrawn anyway.

The top two teams from each of the six groups will qualify automatically for the round of--16, along with the four third placed teams with the best records.