RECALL FOR ZAIDI AND FUAD

Malaysia alongside hosts Thailand and Indonesia will be the three Asean teams playing in the AFC Futsal Championship which will be held in Bangkok on 11-18 May 2008.

Head coach P. Balakrishnan said that the reason for the recall was to improve on the defence which needed improvements after the recent qualifiers.

“Although we did not lose a single game, still we conceded far too many goals and that is what we need to improve on,” said Balakrishnan.

“We scored 20 goals in three rounds of play but at the same time, we also let in 12 goals. Certainly, there is room for improvements.”

Both Mohd Zaidi Yusof and Mohd Fuad were dropped from the national squad for the qualifiers and their recall should bring in more experience at the heart of defence.

For the AFC Futsal Championship, Malaysia have been drawn in Group C against Lebanon, DPR Korea and Uzbekistan.

Only the top two teams from each group will make the last eight while the four semi-finalists qualify automatically for the FIFA Futsal World Cup at the end of the year.