Courtesy:
Asean Football6/5/2005ANUCHA SPARKS THAI WINBANGKOK (May 6, 2005) - Thailand made certain of their premier position in the region’s hierarchy by beating Malaysia 3-0 in last round robin league match of the Asean Futsal Championship at the Hua Mak Stadium here today.
Both teams will meet again tomorrow in the final match to decide the competition’s champion which pits the top two teams of the league phase of this biennial competition.
Though the Thais deserved their win they could not take much pride from it because of a less than impressive goal-to-chance conversion rate. A one-in-three conversion rate would boost the team’s prospects in the Asian championship later this month in Ho Chi Minh City.
Once again Thailand owed their win to their playmaker Anucha Manjarern. He made their first goal in the 7th minute which came from a shot of his that rebounded into goal off the thigh of Joe Nueangkord.
Anucha also created the third Thai goal in the 38th minute when he with his usual panache collected a long pass upfield, drew a Malaysian defender and relayed a perfect pass for Jadet Punpoem to score.
Both creations by Anucha had the hallmarks of class though Thailand’s second goal in the 32nd minute saw comparable quality in the combination of passes between Lertchai Issarasuwipakom and Weerasak Arunpulsap with the latter eft-footing the ball home.
Malaysian looks at the Thai goal were largely dependant on fumbles in defence by the Thais which on at least two occasions gifted the Malaysians with goal scoring chances. But Faizul Ghaffar failed to capitalise.
In the final seconds of the match, Faizul got the ball into the Thai goal from a pass by Fadzil Kamim but the game whistle had sounded, thus preventing Malaysia from obtaining some consolation.
Courtesy:
Asean Football6/5/2005PHILIPPINES PIP VIETNAM AT THE POSTBANGKOK (May 6, 2005) - A last minute goal by Jose Luis Lozano enabled Philippines to beat Vietnam 5-4 and avoid the last place in the six-nation Asean Futsal Championship at the Hua Mak Stadium here today.
Lozano ran through a gap in the middle of the Vietnam defence to score an easy goal in a match that throughout promised to go either way depending on what each team did with the chances they made.
At the start it seemed that the match was headed Vietnam’s way though it was the Philippines who took the lead in the 2nd minute through Charles Borromeo.
However, within minutes Vietnam were rampant with a succession of three goals in successive minutes from the 5th with Ho Bao Minh, Huynh Ba Tuan and Le Quoc Khuong scoring.
The free flowing match in which thrust and counter-thrust was the pattern, then entered an exciting phase with the Philippines coming back to score through Dave Fegidero and Borromeo in the 11th and 14th minutes respectively.
Just before halftime, Nguyen Xuanhiep restored the advantage to Vietnam by catching the Filipino defence flat-footed to score.
The second half saw the keen play of the first sustained with Fegidero regaining parity for the Philippines with a nice opportunistic goal in the 22nd minute.
Play then flowed from one end to the other with both sides conceding and making goal scoring chances until Lozano broke the deadlock in the final minute.
