MALAYSIA EDGE OUT PHILIPPINES: VIETNAM TROUNCE MYANMAR

“It was not an inspiring performance but it was more important to win the there points,” offered Malaysian team manager Hamidin Mohd Amin afterwards.

The Malaysians still reeling from their failure to qualify for the AFC Futsal Championship this year, found themselves back-pedalling the first ten minutes of the game when Ariel Zarrudo pressed Malaysian defender Mohd Fairuz Mohd Nor before scoring from a right angle.

Just several seconds later, they fell further behind when off a long pass from the back, Misagh Bahadoran found the space and time to put the ball beyond the reach of keeper S. Devandran.

But the Malaysians did not lose their shape and barely three minutes later, Mohd Ali Mahat broke through the Philippines defence before scoring the first goal.

Two minutes later, they drew level through Ruzaley AbduL Aziz as the Malaysians then raced to a 3-2 lead at the half when Ali again found the back of the net after sidestepping Bongbong Dorlas.

The Malaysians then started stronger into the second half to stretch their lead to 4-2 off Qaiser Abdul Kadir as the Philippines then rallied to tighten up their defence.

And their hardwork paid dividends when Bahadoran sizzled with a solo effort to pas through two players before slamming to the top of the Malaysian goal for the score to be at 4-3 to the advantage of the Malaysians.

But in their eagerness to find the equaliser, the Philippines were a little lax at the back and that allowed Mohd Khairul Effendy Bahrin to capitalise on a defensive error to score the fifth goal for the Malaysians.

“We are finally playing Futsal and we played to a system but unfortunately, we failed to score with the chances that we have created,” added Philippines head coach Ismaeil Sedigh.

In the meantime, Vietnam proved to be just too strong for the Philippines when they began their campaign this year with an 8-1 beating of their hapless opponents.

But it was Myanmar who went in front first when off a short pass from Han Naing Soe, the waiting Htein Lin did not hesitate to score for the lead in the seventh minute.

“The result is good but the performance could be better. The concentration level must improve if we want to win the tournament,“ added Vietnam head coach Sergio Gargelli.

Vietnam just kept up the pressure after that and in the 12th minute, they finally found the equaliser when Truong Quoc Tuan made good on a cross from Pham Minh Giang.

From then on, there was no looking back for Vietnam as they piled the goals for the convincing win.

The other goals for Vietnam were scored by Nguyen Hoang Giang (13th minute), Quoc Tuan (19th and 24th), Ha Bao Minh (30th and 39th), Nguyen Quoc Bao (34th) and Ngo Anh Dung (35th).

“We started well but the problem is that we do not have good substitutes and that affects our game,” added Myanmar team manager Yeh Htut Tin.

FIXTURES

5 April 2010: MALAYSIA 5 PHILIPPINES 3/ VIETNAM 8 MYANMAR 1

6 April 2010: Philippines vs. Vietnam (1400)/ Indonesia vs. Myanmar (1600)

7 April 2010: Indonesia vs. Malaysia (1400)/ Philippines vs. Myanmar (1600)

8 April 2010: Malaysia vs. Myanmar (1400)/ Vietnam vs. Indonesia (1600)

9 April 2010: Philippines vs. Indonesia (1400)/ Vietnam vs. Malaysia (1600)

10 April 2010: REST DAY

11 April 2010: Winner vs. Runner-up (1600)