Courtesy: Football Asia.com

Korea stay on course in Futsal C'ship

19/4/2004 - Alisher Nikimbaev/FootballAsia

MACAU - Korea Republic virtually sealed their spot in the quarter-finals of the World Futsal Championship Asian Qualifiers - Macau 2004 with a 23-3 trouncing of Maldives in their second Group B match at the Pavilhao Polidesportivo Stadium on Sunday.

Kim Man-joong and Choi Hyun-meen led the way with four goals each as the Koreans got goals from nine different players in the one-sided rout that gives the Koreans two wins from two games in the group.

Lee Sang-keun, Lee Do-seong, Choi Min-kwang and An Jae-ho also netted hat-tricks as the Koreans raced to an 11-2 lead at the break before adding 12 more goals in the second half.

Tournament favourites Iran stayed on course for their sixth consecutive AFC Futsal Championship title with a 13-3 hammering of Indonesia. Vahid Shamsaee scored another six goals to increase his tally to 13 goals from two matches while Mohammad Hashemzade made history by netting Iran's 11th goal in the 36th minute for his team's 400th in the AFC Futsal Championship.

It wasn't all good news though for the Iranians, who committed 14 fouls and had Farkhad Fakhim sent off two minutes from the end.

In Group C, Kyrgyzstan defeated hosts Macau 7-1, while Lebanon kept their quarter-final hopes alive as Charbel Mourady scored a hat-trick in their 9-1 win over Philippines.

In Group D, Malaysia secured their biggest ever futsal win as Addie Azwan netted five goals in their 15-0 hammering of Guam. Even Malaysian goalkeeper Zaidi Ramli got in on the scoring act with two late goals for his team.

World Futsal Championship Asian Qualifiers
Day Three Results
Group A
Iran 13 Indonesia 3

Group B
Korea Republic 23 Maldives 3

Group C
Lebanon 9 Philippines 1
Kyrgyzstan 7 Macau 1

Group D
Malaysia 15 Guam 0