Courtesy: Vietnam News


Squad face Australia in Asian qualifier

HCM CITY — Viet Nam will play Australia today for a place in the Asian Futsal (indoor football) Championship to be held in Uzbekistan next May.

The two will face off in the semi-finals of the Southeast Asian qualifying tournament in Jakarta from where the top three teams will qualify.

Indonesia and Malaysia will play the other semi-final with the losers going into a play-off for third place.

Viet Nam have played Australia just once before in futsal, in a semi-final match at the ASEAN Football Federation Futsal Championships in Bangkok in 2007, losing 4-1.

Viet Nam was forced to play powerhouse Australia after allowing Malaysia to claw back in their last group match and draw 2-2 after leading 2-0. Malaysia topped the group on goal difference.

Viet Nam had easily thrashed Cambodia 12-1 and the Philippines 4-1 in other group matches.

The finals will be held in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, from May 23 to 30.

Thirteen teams have already qualified – hosts Uzbekistan, defending champions Iran, runners-up Thailand, third-placed Japan, China, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Kuwait.


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