Courtesy: Malaysian FA Web Site

CLOSE DEFEAT TO AUSTRALIA

26th March 2007 – The Malaysian national Futsal’s hope of playing in the semi-finals of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Futsal Championship took a beating when they stumbled to a 2-3 defeat to Australia at the Hua Mak Indoor Stadium.
Malaysia, fresh from playing tour here in Bangkok, was the more aggressive at the start but their failure to take the early chances allowed Australia to win the spaces.

And it was before long, that they put keeper Zaidi Ramli under pressure where in the seventh minute Miles Downie scored the opener when he capitalised on a defensive error to slot the ball home.

Four minutes later, Australia made it 2-0 to their advantage when Scott Dingwall found the space to punish Zaidi for the second time on the night.

But Malaysia maintained their composure where just before the break; K. Thayalan gave the team a respite when he scored to put the score at 1-2 in Australia’s favour going into the second half.

The Malaysian lads fought hard to find the equaliser after the breather and they managed to draw level through Mohd Fadhil Yusoff in the 34th minute.

The game became more physical after that with several yellow cards being flashed and just when things seem to be headed for a deadlock, Adrian Vizzari gave Australia the winner two minutes to the end.

Malaysia’s next game will be against Philippines tomorrow at 3pm Malaysian time.

FIXTURES and RESULTS (All Malaysian time at the Hua Mak Indoor Stadium)

26th March, 2007: MALAYSIA 2 AUSTRALIA 3

27th March, 2007: Philippines vs MALAYSIA (3pm)

28th March, 2007: Indonesia vs MALAYSIA (7pm)

30th March, 2007: Semi-finals

31st March, 2007: Final



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