STRONG DUTCH SIDE SET TO BLOW OVER KL WORLD 5S

The KL World 5’s, the most lucrative futsal tournament in the world with a prize purse of USD150,000, is organised by ESPN STAR Sports, Asia’s No. 1 sports broadcaster.

Under the steady guidance of head coach Vic Hermans – who was voted the Most Valuable Player at the 1989 FIFA Futsal World Cup – the Netherlands have improved immensely in the past year and are on the verge of becoming one of the big futsal teams in Europe.

At the Four-Nation tournament played out at the Göztepe Gürsel Aksel Sports Hall in the Netherlands, the Dutch performed sensationally to whip England 12-0. Their strikers were constantly looking for ways to breach through the tight English defence, but their persistence and sharp-shooting paid off handsomely.

The Dutch, led by their most capped player, Antoine Merlino, who has made 102 appearances for his country and scored 29 goals in the process, will surely be one of the stronger sides in the tournament.

With 80 national team appearances in the bag, Marinho Letemahulu, Merlino’s teammate at Belgian club, Minicup Lommel, will be another player to watch out for.

The hottest and most dangerous player in the side though is defender Samir Makhoukhi, who plays for the Blok Carillon Boys Club. Despite playing at the back, he is the team’s top scorer with 33 goals from 60 matches.

The Netherlands and hosts Malaysia are among 10 teams that will be participating in the KL World 5’s. The others are Brazil, Argentina, England, Australia, Iran, China, Thailand and Indonesia.

NETHERLANDS

Peter Rozenbeek, Antoine Merlino, Jamal El Ghannouti, Zaid El Morabiti, Dick Hulshorst, Samir Makhoukhi, Jeroen Hakkens, Karim Ajnane, Joey Ngarigota, Marinho Letemahulu, Omar Nejjari, Patrick Thomassen, Michel van den Brink, Adil Salih

PIC: ANTOINE MERLINO