Courtesy: Asean Football Federation Web Site


AFF FUTSAL: Thailand expect more from Malaysia; Vietnam eager to maintain pressure

April 24, 2012

BANGKOK (24 April 2012) – Vic Hermans, the chief coach of Thailand, said that he is expecting more of a challenge from Malaysia when the two sides square up in the semi-final of the AFC Futsal Championship 2012 tomorrow at the Bangkok Thonburi Stadium.

The Thais, who are ranked 11th in the world, have blazed through the group stage of the tournament with ease where they have scored a whopping 73 goals as against conceding just four goals.

With the exception of their last game in the group against Indonesia, the rest of the teams in their group – Brunei, Laos and Timor Leste – could not provide more than just a token challenge.

“The game against Indonesia gave us some semblance of a fight,” said Hermans. “So I’m hoping that Malaysia could provide us with more challenge as otherwise, my players will not learn anything.”

With the task of having to come up with a right strategy against a side which features some of the best players on this side of the world, the Malaysians realized only too well that they will have their work cut out for them.

“We need to have the right set of thinking going into the game against Thailand,” added Maizal Marzuki, the chief coach of Malaysia. “If we respect them too much, then we are finished.”

In the other semi-final tie, Vietnam will take on Indonesia where they will be eager to erase the bitter memories of a bad outing at the recent AFC Futsal Championship.

“We made a lot of mistakes in that tournament but we have managed to change some things for the current meet,” said Sergio Gargelli, the chief coach of Vietnam. “Now, we will just have to make sure that we keep up with the pressure game.”

The last time these two side met resulted in 2-1 loss for Vietnam.

“We are using a very young squad for this tournament and they showed that they can play at a good level,” said Justinus Lhaksana, the team manager of Indonesia. “We are of course aiming for a place in the final, so that we can play Thailand again.”




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