BANGKOK (11 Oct 2015) – Australia and Vietnam cruised into the AFF Futsal semi-finals after bashing Laos and the Philippines at the Bangkok Arena here this afternoon.
The Aussies raced away with a 15-2 win while the Vietnamese recorded the biggest result of the tournament when they hammered the Philippines 19-1.
Today’s results were also great news for Australia and Vietnam as they have secured their places in the Asian Futsal Championships in Uzbekistan next year. This year’s AFF Futsal is a qualifying competition where the four top teams here will make the cut for the Asian event.
Australia, runners-up in last year’s AFF Futsal, will square off with Vietnam tomorrow to decide the final group positions, which will in turn determine their opponents in the crossover semifinals on Wednesday. Both would like to win to avoid a premature meeting with favourites Thailand.
In today’s first match, Vietnam ran riot past the Philippines to take over the lead with nine points. Vietnam had two players with hattricks – Pham Duc Hoa (7th), 17th, 25th) and Nguyen Bao Can (21st, 31st, 32nd).
The other goals came from Le Quoc Nam (21st, 27th), Vu Xuan Du (26th, 30th), Nguyen Minh Tri (21st, 31st), Duong Anh Tung (11th), Ngo Ngoc Son (27th), Tran Van Vu (34th), Phuong Trong Luan (36th) and Danh Phat (40th). The Philippines netted an own goal in the second half while Lorenzo Hermosa was on target in the 25th minute.
Australia took on Laos in the second game and easily collected full points. But their big win was not enough help them regain the top spot due to massive goal difference Vietnam had built up in their win over Philippines. Australia would have had to score 17 clear goals to overcome Vietnam’s 33-goal gap.
Daniel Fogarty scored in the third minute and went on to be the top scorer with four goals (23rd, 23rd, 40th). Wade Giovenali was their three-goal hero, reeling in the hattrick within a space of seven minutes (6th, 12th, 13th). The other names on the scoresheet were Shervin Keshavarz (1st, 13th), Glen Kelshaw (28th, 29th), Gregory Giovenali (16th, 30th) and Dean Lockhart (36th, 37th).
Laos surprised with two goals from Inpan Keomanixay and Soulichanh Phasawaeng in the 29th and 39th minutes.
Which team leads Group B today does not matter as Australia and Vietnam will settle the score when they meet tomorrow afternoon.
Laos (in red / black) against Australia (in yellow / green)
Philippines (in all blue) against Vietnam (in all red)
Philippines (in all blue) against Vietnam (in all red)
TODAY’S RESULTS
Group B: Vietnam bt Philippines 19-1, Australia bt Laos 14-2
REMAINING FIXTURES
Oct 11
Group A: Malaysia vs Timor Leste (4.30pm), Brunei vs Thailand (7pm)
Oct 12
Group B: Myanmar vs Laos (11.30am), Vietnam vs Australia (2pm)
Group A: Singapore vs Malaysia (4.30pm), Thailand vs Timor Leste (7pm)
Oct 14
Semifinals
Oct 16
Final
| GROUP A | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| THAILAND | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 13 | 6 |
| TIMOR LESTE | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 6 |
| MALAYSIA | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 3 |
| BRUNEI | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 16 | -8 | 3 |
| SINGAPORE | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 16 | -12 | 0 |
| GROUP B | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
| VIETNAM | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 3 | 31 | 9 |
| AUSTRALIA | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 3 | 28 | 9 |
| MYANMAR | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 3 |
| LAOS | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 31 | -18 | 3 |
| PHILIPPINES | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 55 | -51 | 0 |
Note: In case of same points, the head-to-head battle between the two teams will be used
Team in BOLD qualify for the semi-finals
