SHAH ALAM (18 Sept 2014) – The AFF Futsal Championship kicks-off in Shah Alam tomorrow morning with 10 teams battling for honours. But it is defending champions Thailand, despite missing out on the services of several key players, which will be the team to beat.
Among those who did not make the trip are Futsal World Cup players like Suphawut Thuenklang and Kritsada Wongkaeo but make no mistake, the Thais will still be a force to be reckoned with. The Thais, led by the skilful Jetsada Chudech, open their campaign against the Philippines on Saturday at the Melawati Stadium.
The two teams are in Group B along with Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos. The five teams in Group A are hosts Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Timor Leste and Australia.
“We have no Suphawut and a few others, so it will be a good opportunity for the young players. We spent some two weeks in Europe and we are still confident of doing well,” said Vic Hermans, Thailand’s Dutch coach.
“We looking to win a place in the final for sure but the rest of the teams will be closing in on us. We have to show our quality.” Hermans vowed.
Malaysian coach, Maizal Marzuki, speaking at a press conference today, was upbeat about his team’s chances. “We played in a tournament in Oceania and also had a friendly against Thailand as part of our preparations. It was a good exposure and we are aiming to do well at home.”
ADDITIONAL QUOTES
“We are in a tough group for sure. We have five new faces and nine players who had turned out for the team at the SEA Games Myanmar. We played some matches before coming here, so we will see how much of an improvement we have made.” – Myanmar team manager Kyi Min Thein
“We only had a short preparation time, less than two months. We picked the players from a tournament which was held over a three month period. We did not have enough any international matches. But we will see how competitive we can be.” – Timor Leste assistant coach Roni Rego
“It was a good exposure playing at the recent MNC Cup in Jakarta. We had some new players in the squad and we had several quality matches in Indonesia. Obviously, we hope to improve on the shortcomings of the team in this meet.” – Philippines coach Balthazar Avelino
“We had two months of preparation where we won the MNC Cup against the Philippines, Kyrgyzstan and also a team from China. With at least 80% of players from the SEA Games last year, we are quite confident of making the final.” – Indonesian coach Dadang Iskandar
“Our goal is to make the semi-finals of course. We have a handful of young players in the team and we are looking to improve our overall performance. We played some games against New Zealand and we had some good results, so we are in a good place.” – Australian assistant coach Simon Keith
“This is my first time in the AFF Futsal Championship after taking over the team earlier in the year. We have made some changes to the squad, where there are now several young players in the team. Our target is to make the semi-finals.” – Vietnam coach Bruno Formoso
“Tough to be in the same group as Thailand but we will do our best to show the results of our two months of preparation. It is a tough group but we would like to show at least some improvements from our showing at the last meet.” – Brunei coach Mohd Yunos Mohd Yusof
“The first match against the Philippines tomorrow will be important. We need to show the results of the few months of work that we have put in. I believe that we are at the same level as the Philippines, so we can be competitive in this match.” – Laos assistant team manager Sysaveuy Saysanasy
