BANGKOK (20 Oct 2013) – The question which should be answered by the end of the second match day in Group A is whether, can anyone stop hosts Thailand?
The ASEAN powerhouse, the runners-up at the last AFC Futsal Championship last year, did not even have to break much of a sweat as they sauntered past the Philippines 20-1 in their first match of the group.
“There are some players who are new and we need to break them into the squad,” said Thai coach Vic Hermans after the game. “There were some jitters today and this is obviously something that we need to work on.”
Jitters or otherwise, the Thais had classy player Suphawut Thueanklang to rely on when he opened the floodgates with the first goal of the game in the third minute off a play back from Jirawat Sornwichian.
After that first goal, the Philippines were just there to watch how real ‘Futsal’ was being played without the use of much power but rather the reliance on sublime technique.
Supawhut went on to score five more goals (12th, 22nd, 25th, 33rd and 33rd minute) as Kritsada Wongkaeo (5th, 21st, 24th, 29th, 30th, 31st and 34th), Jirawat (4th, 11th, 30th and 34th), Kongkhla Lakka (25th), Nawin Rattanawongswas (17th) and Sittisak Atirat (9th).
But the Philippines still managed to give some semblance of a fight back with their only goal of the game in the 35th minute.
“For us, the score line was not important,” said Baltazar Avelino, the coach of the Philippines. “It was an experience for us to play against a world-class team like Thailand. What more when we get the chance to score against them. It was an honour to play this game.”
Thailand’s Jirawat Sornwichian (in all red kit) sneaked in the goal past Philippines’ defender Floriano Pasilan (No. 5 in all blue kit) and goalkeeper Romeo Paranpan.
In the meantime, Malaysia beat Brunei 8-4 to pick up their first three points of the competition.
Following their first loss in the group to Vietnam yesterday, the Malaysians needed the points and also the goals to better their chance of a place in the AFC Futsal Championship 2014.
After a slow start, the Malaysians finally got the goal they were looking for in the eighth minute when Zubaidi Alwee made good on a cross from Nizam.
Three minutes later, it was Nizam who doubled Malaysia’s lead before Brunei replied through Fakhri Bangkul.
The Malaysians then slammed in two quick goals in the last minute of the first half off Qaiser Heshaam Abdul Kadir and Nizam for them to be 4-1 on the advantage.
Needing to pile on the goals to better their chance of qualifying into the main event, Qaiser (23rd), Faisal (26th) and then Muizzudin Mohd Haris (32nd) extended Malaysia’s lead.
But some lapse in defending saw Brunei’s Maziri Maidin scoring a hat-trick (34th, 37th and 39th minute) before Malaysian power play at the tail end of the tie gave them their last goal of the game from Mohd Khairul Effendy Mohd Bahrin.
Intense moment in front of the Brunei goal
AFF FUTSAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2013
GROUPINGS
GROUP A: Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Philippines, Thailand
GROUP B: Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Timor Leste, Australia
GROUP A CURRENT STANDINGS
|
No |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
GD |
Pts |
|
1 |
Thailand |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
20 |
1 |
+19 |
3 |
|
2 |
Malaysia |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
6 |
+3 |
3 |
|
3 |
Vietnam |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
+1 |
3 |
|
4 |
Philippines |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
23 |
-17 |
3 |
|
5 |
Brunei |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
13 |
-6 |
0 |
