COMEBACK WIN FOR HOSTS MALAYSIA

But they had to do it the hard way in the Group A encounter against their Asean neighbour having to come back from a goal down in the early minutes before things settled down eventually.

In the end, it was skipper Addie Azwan Zainal’s attacking flair and the knack for goals knocked Indonesia out cold.

But things were different from the start. Indonesia had the possession and the tenacity and Rizal Rahim capitalising on a Malaysian attack which broke down in the middle of the court, slotted home the opening goal in the fifth min.

They held on to the lead until five minutes before the break when their goalkeeper Yos Adi Wicaksono was sent off for handling the ball outside the D.

Yet the Malaysians could not capitalise during the two-minute period when Indonesia played with one man less until the 22nd min when Addie’s shot from close range was deflected into goal by Indonesia’s Beny Hera for the equaliser.

Addie was on target again a minute later to give Malaysia a 2-1 lead.

But Indonesia were back on level terms again in the very next minute through Andri Irwan and the match was headed for a grand finale.

It was Addie again who provided the breakthrough with the winning goal in the 29th min after Indonesia were caught flat footed in the midst of their eagerness to snatch the winner.

“We were under tremendous pressure from the start. It was an opening match and the fans’ expectations were very high. I must admit my players were nervous and didn’t play up to expectations. But the most important thing was that we gradually recovered and took our chances well,” said Malaysia’s coach P. Balakrishnan.

“In fact, there is very little difference between the two sides. We scored more goals than them and that won us the match.”

Indonesia meanwhile were gallant in defeat.

“Malaysia took their chances and scored the goals they needed to win the match. That’s the difference between winning and losing. But don’t forget we had played an earlier match(losing to Australia 1-5) and we were very tired,” added Indonesia coach Justinus Lhaksana.

“But believe me Indonesia can play much better than what we did against Malaysia. Several of my senior players let me down today and the sending off of our goalkeeper was the turning point in the match.”

In an earlier Group A match saw Argentina the defending champion trounced England 12-1 in a match which saw the South Americans displaying all their might.

They led 8-1 at the break and added four more in the second half to make it a dozen with England’s solitary goal coming from skipper Richard Follett.

Argentina’s scorers were Christian Borruto(1st, 16th,22nd, and 37th min; Maximiliano Rescia( 7th, 19th and 29th); Alamiro Vaporaki(12th and 13th); Ignacio Caviglia(19th); Santiago Basile(2nd) and Luis Gonzalez(33rd).

“Obviously the gap between Argentina and England is too big and therefore I am not surprised at the scoreline. England still have plenty to learn about futsal,” said Argentina’s coach Fernando Larranaga.

England’s coach Grame Dell: “We will take probably another 30 years to come up to Argentina’s standard. They are so competent on the ball and the skills they displayed was a joy to watch. We will still be in lower rungs of world futsal and our education process will continue.”

In the meantime, Asean champions Thailand’s hopes of a winning start to their campaign fell short of expectation when they were held to a 3-3 draw by Holland.

But the match was really too close to call for either team as Holland took a 2-1 lead at the break off Dick Hulshorst in the eighth minute and Omar Neijari in the 15th minute with the solitary goal from Thailand in the first half coming off Ekapong Suratsawang in the 13th minute.

However, Thailand were more brazen after the break when Panuwat Janta found the equalizer in the 21st minute before Ekapong gave them the lead for the first time in the match four minutes later.

Any thought of winning their first three points of the tournament was dashed for Thailand in the 31st minute when Karim Ajnane drew level for Holland as both teams scrape for the one point at the end of an exhilarating encounter.

TODAY’S RESULTS

Indonesia 1 Australia 5; Brazil 4 China 0; England 1 Argentina 12; Malaysia 3 Indonesia 2; Thailand 3 Holland 3.

TOMORROW’S FIXTURES (30 Jan, 2008)

10am: China vs Thailand
3pm: England vs Indonesia
5pm: Argentina vs Malaysia
7pm: Iran vs Brazil
9pm: Holland vs China

PIC: The MALAYSIAN players celebrate with the fans after their win over Indonesia