Courtesy: The Jakarta Globe


Indonesia Futsal Coach Sure Effort Will Get Team to Tashkent

The 2010 AFC Futsal Championship qualifiers kicks off today and Indonesia squad feels confident to get a ticket to Uzbekistan.

Indonesia is in Group A with Burma and Australia, while Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Vietnam, make up Group B.

The top two from each group advance to the crossover semifinals, with the top three from the crossover advancing to the tournament proper which will be played in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from May 23 to 30.

With only three teams in the group after Brunei was suspended by FIFA, a win would be enough for Indonesia to finish in the top two and get a semis ticket.

Indonesia will host Burma in its first game on Sunday, and with a 3-0 record in the past four years, the host has the upper hand. But coach Robby Hartono warned his squad not to take the opponent lightly.

“We have a good record against Burma and we’re optimistic,” Robby said on Friday.

“But we must not let our guard down against Burma. They’re still a good team that could surprise us.”

But Indonesia will have another advantage as it could have a peek at both of its opponents’ strategies. Australia, the tournament’s favorite, will face Burma in the qualifying opener at Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta on Saturday.

Indonesia has yet to show a good performance in the international friendlies before the tournament. The team lost to Port Authority of Thailand and the Thai Under-21, both 2-1, in Bangkok last week.

But Robby insisted that the team has improved.

“We should not look at just the score considering that there have been vast improvements in the overall performance of the players,” Robby said. “We still have goal scoring problems but they have played with good tactics and also adapted to the strategy which has been planned.”

The coach believed Indonesia would qualify for Uzbekistan.

“We have no doubt about that. But first we have to play at our best in the qualifiers,” he said.

Indonesia has always qualified to the AFC Futsal Championship since 2002, though it has never done better than the group phase. In previous championship in Thailand last year, Indonesia failed to go to the quarterfinals after finishing third in Group A.

Meanwhile, Australia coach Steven Knight said all teams in the Asean qualifiers have almost the same chance to qualify for Uzbekistan.

“We’re not favorite. We’ve just been training together for only five days and almost all players come from amateur clubs in Australia,” Knight said. “I just want the team to qualify for the 2010 championship by finishing in the top three.”

“This will be a hard qualifiers as all of the teams, I think, are on the same level playing field.”

The Futsalroos’ best achievements were quarterfinals in 2007 and 2008.




Courtesy: The Jakarta Post


RI confident of advancing to AFC Futsal Championship

by Agnes Winarti

20/2/2010

The Indonesian squad expressed optimism of its chances of advancing from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Futsal Championship ASEAN Zone's qualifier that runs Feb. 20-25 in Jakarta.

Futsal is a variant of soccer played mainly indoors on a smaller pitch. The game is played between two teams of five players, one of whom is the goalkeeper, and up to seven substitutes per team.

"As hosts, we definitely have a better chance of advancing from the qualifiers," Indonesian team head coach Robby Hartono told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He expressed confidence after his team posted an excellent performance during two recent tryouts in Thailand.

"However, we will not underestimate our opponents in this qualification, although we are currently the second best team after Australia *among the seven countries in the qualifying round*," he said, adding that underdog teams such as Myanmar, would also be a threat as they had "nothing to lose".

Indonesia is ranked ninth in Asia, while Australia is in the top five.

Indonesia is in Group A in the qualifiers along with Australia and Myanmar. Australia faces Myanmar on Saturday, while Indonesia will face Myanmar on Sunday and Australia the following day.

"We'll use the qualifiers to get more experience to develop futsal in our country. We will need a lot of luck to draw with Australia and Indonesia," Myanmar team manager Yei Htut Tin said Friday. Yei added that his team mostly consisted of young players between the ages of 18 and 19.

Meanwhile, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia comprise Group B of the ASEAN Zone qualifier.

"Indonesia is definitely a favorite to qualify. I think Indonesia and Vietnam will be the two strongest countries in this competition, so we will put up a good performance," Australian head coach Steven Knight said. The Australians were stopped two years ago at the quarterfinals by eventual runners-up Thailand.

"The Vietnamese team is currently the rising futsal star. I saw their improved performance during the recent tryouts in Thailand," Robby said, echoing Knight's predictions.

"We are not looking for experience, we are here to play our best and to qualify," Vietnam assistant coach Ngo Le Bang said.

The winners and runner-ups in both groups will have play-off matches to determine the two best teams who will directly qualify for the AFC Futsal Championship 2010 in Tashkent on May 23-30.

The two losers will meet in Tashkent in a play-off for the remaining spot.

This will be the second installment of the biennial AFC Futsal Championship, first held in 2008. The championship was previously held annually since its establisment in 1999.

Indonesia passed the qualifying stage in 2008, but failed to advance from the first round of the finals as it finished third in the group behind Thailand and Kyrgyzstan. Iran are reigning champions.

Tickets for the Feb. 20-25 matches are priced from Rp 25,000, and will reach Rp 100,000 for the elimination rounds and finals.



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