UNCERTAINTY FOR INDONESIA

For the tournament which is slated for March 26-31, Cemby Hutapea the head of the Indonesia National Futsal Board felt that being grouped with several tough oppositions meant that they have to be a little more realistic.

Indonesia, who lost the final to Thailand last year (pic), has been placed in a tricky Group A for the meet alongside Malaysia, Australia and the Philippines.

Group B are Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei and Myanmar.

“We have to be more pragmatic because the three teams that we are up against are all part of the 16 teams which will be playing in the AFC Futsal Championship 2007 in Japan in the middle of the year,” said Cemby.

“Furthermore, we also have to look at the overall picture where we also have to prepare a team capable of carrying Indonesia’s challenge to the SEA Games which will be held in Thailand later in the year.”

For the AFF Championship next week, the Indonesian national Futsal side will be headed by Justin Lhaksana and where he will be assisted by Hendra Nazaier and Zahlul Fadhil.

“There are currently 20 players in training for the SEA Games, so as far as whether we are prepared for the championship, there is no doubt about that,” added Cemby to the official Indonesian FA website.

Head coach Justin Lhaksana had earlier pointed out that taking part in the AFF Championship will be of benefit to the players as they look to forward to stage a real challenge to host Thailand at the SEA Games.

Indonesia’s first match of the competition will be against the Philippines on March 26.