Courtesy: Bernama


Malaysia Drawn In 'Group Of Death' At Vietnam AFF Futsal Tournament

June 05, 2009

PETALING JAYA, June 5 (Bernama) -- The National futsal squad need to pull up their socks to make an impact or win the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Futsal tournament which kicks off in Vietnam on Monday.

If the results of matches played during their playing tour of Uzbekistan last month was anything to go by, national futsal coach P. Balakrishnan and his charges need to improve by leaps and bounds, especially in terms of scoring.

The squad which played five matches against the Uzbekistan national and club teams, managed to score only six goals and conceded 25.

According to Balakrishnan the boys showed a marked improvement in the later stages of the tour after losing the initial two matches 5-1 to FC Stroitel Zaravshan and 10-1 to FC Ardus since he was trying out different combinations.

"After the two heavy defeats, and the 1-5 defeat to the Uzbekistan national team, we managed to reduce the margin when we met the Uzbek national team and FC Ardus again.

"In the second match against the Uzbek's we lost 2-3 and again lost to FC Ardus but only by a close 1-2 margin," he told reporters at Wisma FAM here Friday.

Balakrishnan added that his immediate task would be to focus on strikers because the young strikers have yet to get used to playing in international matches.

He certainly had reason to worry as four of the six goals scored during the tour, came from veteran skipper Addie Azwan Zainal who has been with the team since 2000.

The other two goals came through Safar Mohamad and Qaiser Heshaam Abd Kadir.

Meanwhile, for the AFF tournament in Vietnam, Malaysia are drawn in Group A, also known of the 'group of death' together with Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia.

Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) chairman for futsal and beach soccer committee Hamidin Mohd Amin meanwhile, said Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia submitted a protest against the draw but was rejected by AFF.

He added that since Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia had qualified for the semi-finals of the AFF tournament last year, they should not have been drawn in the same group.

"I will again raise the matter at the managers meeting on Sunday," said Hamidin who is also the team manager.

According to the draw, Malaysia who finished third in the tournament last year, face Indonesia on Monday, Thailand (Tuesday) and Myanmar later to decide the top two places and advance into the semi-finals.

Group B comprises host Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei and Timor Leste.

Malaysian squad: Addie Azwan Zainal, Mohd Ruzaley Abd Aziz, N. Saravanan, Safar Mohamad, Mohd Firdaus Razali, Mohd Hishamuddin Manjur Ahmad, Muhamad Fadhil Yusoff, S. Devandran, R. Deventhiran, Muizzudin Mohd Haris, Mohd Fadzil Ab. Karnim, Jamhuri Zainuddin, Qaiser Heshaam Abd. Kadir, Mohd Fairuz Mohd Noor.








Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com