LIFELINE FOR PHILIPPINES; THAILAND AND INDONESIA IN FINAL FOUR

As Philippines kept their hopes of a place in the semi-finals of the AFF Futsal Championship 2009 alive with a 10-2 win over Timor Leste; Malaysia became the first casualty of the tournament this year when they conceded a 7-3 loss to Thailand.

In the final game of the evening, Indonesiamade the semi-finals this year alongsideThailand when they beat Myanmar 6-4.

The Philippines, who had conceded a 3-0 defeat to hosts Vietnam yesterday, bounced back in their second game against Timor Leste in Group B here at the Phu Tho Stadium to race to an 8-2 lead at the half.

The wily Misagh Bahadoran nailed a personal best with four goals (4th, 5th, 5th and 10th minute) as Ali Go (2nd and 4th) and Edward Mallari (2nd and 3rd) contributed the others just before the break.

“We played a lot better yesterday but at least today, we managed to allow some of the younger players the chance to have more time in the game,” said Sedigh Esmaeil, the head coach for the Philippines.

“Now, we will have two days to prepare the team for the semi-final game which is likely to beThailand.“

The second half saw Jason De Jong completing the rout with goals in the 23rd and 24th minute.

For Timor, their first foray into international Futsal was a harsh lesson although they at least made a fighting show of it with goals from Jose Vong in the 9th and 20th minute.

On the other hand Malaysia, who had to use outfielder Mohd Fairuz Mohd Noor in placed of the two red-carded keepers S. Devandran and Mohd Firdaus Razali, came just a tad short when they were edged out of the competition 7-3 by the young Thai side.

Any thoughts of Malaysia coming out on top in this encounter were dashed late in the first half when Jirawat Sornwichian blasted in a double off goals in the 14th and 17th minute.

“The team is coming together well and after this second win, we are a lot more confident for the third match (against Indonesia tomorrow),“ said Samart Sappoj, the team manager ofThailand.

“We have several new players in the squad and they are gaining confidence as the competition progresses.”

Malaysia started strongly into the second half when Mohd Fadzil Karnim broke through for Mohd Fadhil Yusof to score their first goal in the 24th minute.

But some lackadaisical defending later allowed Thailand to blast in three quick goals off Jetsada Chudech (25th and 27th minute) and Suphawut Thuenklang (25th) for the score to stand at 5-1.

Malaysia then replied with their second goal off Addie Azwan Zainal in the 28th minute but the Thais showed their attacking flair with two more goals after that from Na-tee Thusiri (28th) and then Kritsada (33rd).

A late goal from Qaiser Heshaam Kadir five minutes to the end failed to change the inevitable as Malaysia make the exit from the competition.

In the meantime, Indonesia were not as rampaging as they would have liked when they struggled to a 6-4 win over Myanmar in the final game of the evening.

Watched by a sporadic crowd, the Indonesians were stunned as early as the first minute when Lai Ceu Luai blasted in the lead for Myanmar.

Under pressure, Indonesia threw every available men in search of the equaliser and they duly grabbed it five minutes later through captain Denny Handoyo.

But in their haste to look for the lead, Indonesia conceded a penalty in the tenth minute for Ceu Luai to score and give Myanmar their second goal of the evening.

Indonesia then nailed two quick goals from Sayan Karmadi (17th minute) and Topas Pamungkas (18th) for them to be 3-2 in front going into the dressing room.

“It was a bit over-confident and also some under-estimation of the Myanmar team in the first half. We are better than this,“ said Justinus Lhaksana, the head coach for Indonesia.

“But the boys recovered in the second half and now we have to better prepare ourselves for the last match against Thailand.”

And while Myanmar managed to score their third goal off Ye Naung in the 27th minute,Indonesia rallied to score three more off Topas (29th) and Sayan (33rd and 36th) to stretch their lead to 6-3.

But while Myanmar tried hard to get back into contention, they just managed to score a late goal from Zin Lin Aung for the final scoreline.

ADDITIONAL QUOTES

“It was our first competitive match at the international level. So it was not too bad. At the very least, we managed to score two goals.” – Eduardo Pereira, the head coach of Timor Leste.

“The performance was much better when compared to yesterday. But we conceded several soft goals and at this level, we paid for it. I thought 3-1 would have been a more respectable scoreline.” – P. Balakrishnan, head coach of Malaysia.

“We tried. We played hard in the first half but perhaps we lost momentum in the second. Now, we hope that we can complete the tournament with our first win (over Malaysia) tomorrow.“ – U Thet Naing, head coach of Myanmar

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

1400hrs: Myanmar vs Malaysia

1600hrs: Vietnam vs Timor Leste

1800hrs: Indonesia vs Thailand

12 June 2009

Semi-Finals

14 June

Third and Fourth Placing

Final