VIETNAM, PHILIPPINES, THAILAND AND INDONESIA IN SEMI-FINALS

Vietnam made the semi-finals of the AFF Futsal Championship 2009 when they thrashed Timor Leste 21-1 in their final Group B match to join Philippines, Thailand andIndonesia in the final four.

With the win, Vietnam will now take onIndonesia while Group A winnersThailand will play the Philippines in the semi-finals in two days.

The score at the half was 11-0 alive with Ngo Anh Dung 8th, 19th and 20th minute) and Huynh Dong Kha (9th, 16th and 19th) each grabbing a hat-trick as Huynh Ba Tuan (2nd), Ha Bao Minh (5th), Nguyen Quoc Binh (11th), Nguyen Bao Quan (12th) and Pham Minh Giang (18th) scoring the other goals.

“It was a great team effort and this has certainly prepare us better for the semi-finals,“ said Pattaya Piemkum, the head coach for Vietnam.

“We were up against a less formidable team for sure but the team maintained their consistency and not lose concentration which was important.”

Vietnam completed the rout in the second half with goals off Anh dung (22nd, 23rd, 33rd), Dong Kha (24th, 27th and 28th), Bao Quan (31st and 35th) and Monh Giang (32nd) and Nguyen Quoc Bao (38th).

Timor Leste scored their only goal in the game off Januario Ximenes in the 24th minute.

With two wins out of two, hosts Vietnam won Group B while the Philippines came in as the runners-up.

In the meantime, Malaysia finally grabbed their first win of the competition when they beatMyanmar 2-0 in the final Group A match.

Both teams are already out of contention.

In an evenly contested affair without the stress of qualification, both teams put up an attacking display of Futsal much to the entertainment of the spartan crowd in attendance.

But in their eagerness to win the tie, Myanmar committed far too many mistakes and after picking up their fifth foul in just under ten minutes, it allowed Malaysia to gain the upper hand.

And 15th minute into the game, they finally broke the deadlock when veteran Addie Azwan Zainal Zainal slammed home the lead from the second penalty mark.

“The win has alleviated the disappointment of not making the semi-finals this year but it is scant consolation,” said P. Balakrishnan, the head coach of Malaysia.

“Now we have to think real hard where Malaysian Futsal would like to go from here.“

The Malaysians wrapped up the game with the second goal of the game off Mohd Fadhil Yusoff three minutes to the end.

In the plum tie of the day – in spite of the fact that both teams had already qualified for the semi-finals – Thailand edged Indonesia 3-2 to take Group A.

Keattiyot Chalaemkhet opened account in the 15th minute before adding his second in the game in the 21st minute and Jirawat Sornwichian in the 25th minute.

Indonesia replied through Sayan Karmadi in the 22nd minute and Afif Tamimy three minutes later.

“It was a good result even though it was close. But we have no complain,“ said Samart Sappoj, the team manager of Thailand.

ADDITIONAL QUOTES

“We should not have lost to Indonesia. That was our undoing. We have failed to make the semi-finals for the third time in three years. But there‘s always next year.“ – U Thet Naing, head coach of Myanmar

“We tried hard but this was our first international tournament. It has given us the exposure and even though we suffered a thrashing, still it was a good experience for the future.” – Eduardo Pereira, the head coach of Timor Leste

“I told the players what I wanted was the commitment and the boys showed that today. It was a close game.” – Justinus Lhaksana, the head coach of Indonesia

FIXTURES and RESULTS (All matches at the Phu Tho Stadium)

8 June 2009

MALAYSIA 3 INDONESIA 7

THAILAND 16 MYANMAR 6

PHILIPPINES 0 VIETNAM 3

9 June 2009

TIMOR LESTE 2 PHILIPPINES 10

MALAYSIA 3 THAILAND 7

MYANMAR 4 INDONESIA 6

10 June 2009

MYANMAR 0 MALAYSIA 2

VIETNAM 21 TIMOR LESTE 1

INDONESIA 2 THAILAND 3

12 June 2009

Semi-Finals

1500hrs: Thailand vs Philippines

1700hrs: Vietnam vs Indonesia

14 June

Third and Fourth Placing

Final