Courtesy: The Jakarta Globe


Absent Thailand Opens the Race for Regional Futsal Title

April 05, 2010

Absent Thailand Opens the Race for Regional Futsal Title
With Southeast Asian powerhouse Thailand busy elsewhere, the AFF Futsal Championship is there for the taking this week in Ho Chi Minh City.

Thailand, which has won the title in each of the past seven years, chose not to take part in the tournament. Instead, its players entered a local competition, the Thailand 5s, which also runs this week.

That absence has left host Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia as the favorites to lift the trophy, with Burma and the Philippines completing the field. The top two teams in the round-robin tournament will compete in Sunday’s final.

“We have a great chance to win the trophy without Thailand in the competition,” Indonesia coach Robby Hartono said on Monday.

“I think there’s no secrets among the teams in this championship, as we played against and saw each other in the 2010 Asian Championship qualifying rounds in February. We just have to play aggressively and maintain our focus.”

Indonesia, a two-time runner-up, finished third at the 2009 tournament in Vietnam. Thailand beat the host that year to retain its crown.

Indonesia advanced to the Asian Championship after finishing second to Australia in Asean Zone qualifying in February, and Robby said the AFF tournament offered a good chance to gauge the progress his team has made.

“Good results [in Vietnam] will surely be a good boost before playing in the Asian Championship final rounds,” he said.

Before heading to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on May 23-30 for the Asian Championship, Indonesia opens AFF play today against Burma at Pu Tho Stadium.

Robby said repeating Indonesia’s 7-1 qualifying victory over Burma was within reach.

“We have a better squad than Burma,” he said. “If we play fast and put pressure on them from the start, I think we’ll win the match.”

Burma, meanwhile, hopes to use the AFF tournament as a learning experience.

“Our team is very young, and for these years the important thing is that they get all the exposure they can get,” Burma’s manager, Yei Htut Tin, told the AFF Web site.

“The ultimate target for them is to be a strong team for the [Southeast Asian] Games, which Burma is planning to host in 2013,” he said.

Vietnam, which reached the Asian Championship after finishing third in qualifying, is upbeat about its chances after signing Italian Sergio Gargelli as its new head coach, replacing Pattaya Piemkum.

“Our aim is to win the tournament, even though in futsal we know that the levels of Malaysia and Indonesia are around the same as us,” Vietnam assistant coach Ngo Le Bang said.


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