JAKARTA TO HOST ASIAN FUTSAL QUALIFIERS

With Thailand getting an automatic qualification by virtue of being in the final of the last championship in 2008, the other teams involved in the qualifiers are Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Cambodia, Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam and Myanmar.

The eight teams vying for the only three available slots will be divided into two groups before the top two in each group play in the crossover semi-finals.

“Even though we are hosts, we will still have to work hard to win a place into the final round. It is already very competitive at the Asean level, what more now with the present of Australia,” said Yerico Yohannes Umbas, a representative of the National Futsal Committee, who is also the Indonesia national Futsal team manager.

In the meantime Justinus Lhaksana (pic), the Indonesia national coach, will be hoping for an improved performance following the team’s failure to make the final of the recent AFF Futsal Championship in Vietnam.

“We will have to play a lot better than what we showed at the AFF Futsal Championship 2009. We will need more quality friendly matches from now on,” said Justin.

“Both Vietnam and Myanmar have been making vast improvements and we need to push the level of our game to another plane obviously.”