BANGKOK (28 April 2012) – Shortly after leading Thailand to their eighth crown in the AFF Futsal Championship 2012 yesterday Vic Hermans, the chief coach of Thailand, said that this team is far from ready for the FIFA Futsal World Cup later this year.
Thailand will be hosting the FIFA Futsal World Cup in November where they will be eager to prove that they can do more than just dominate the game of Futsal at the ASEAN level.
“From the way, we played in this tournament, it is definite that we are not ready for the FIFA Futsal World Cup,” said Hermans (right of pix).
“Yes, we are the champions (of AFF Futsal Championship) but if we want to go against the big boys of Futsal, we have to raise the level of our game several notches. What more considering that we will be playing in front of our home fans.”
Powered by the likes of Suphawut Thueanklang, Kritsada Wongkaeo and Jetsada Chudech, the Thais were unstoppable in the preliminary round of the championship when they scored 73 goals as against conceding just four goals.
And while the Thais managed to trample past Malaysia 12-1 in the semi-final, it would be Vietnam who provided them with the hardest fight of the competition this year. The 9-4 victory in the final for the Thais was a cause for celebration as they scooped up their eighth crown but for Hermans, it is also a cause for concern.
“We can score goals but at the same time too, we are wasting a lot of the chances we created. This is something which we need to work on,” added Hermans.
“Also defensively, we are not as strong as we should be and we need to find the right solution to this problem. We should not be letting in so many goals in the final.
“And it is these reasons that I feel we are not ready for the FIFA Futsal World Cup. We need to make improvements in these months running up to the November date.”
