Courtesy: Futsal Planet


Bala: Players Lack Mental Strength, Fighting Spirit

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 31 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's futsal coach P. Balakrishnan said his players lacked mental strength and fighting spirit to compete against prominent international teams.

"Most of our players do not have the right mental attitude and fighting spirit to make a comeback after they going down to much stronger opponents.

"This is our major problem... it makes a huge gap between us and the world futsal powerhouses such as Argentina and Brazil," he said.

In today's third group A match, Malaysia was thrashed by Australia 7-0, the second trouncing after the first one by Argentina 7-1 on Wednesday.

In the first half, Australia were leading by 4-0, with the first two goals scored within a space of two minutes.

The first goal was scored by Adrian Vizzari from the penalty spot and a minute later, Fernando De Moraes added the second. Again, Fernando netted the third in the 12th, followed by the fourth goal by Keith Robert Simon (15th).

In the second half, Australia increased their lead through three goals by Giovenali Greg (22nd), Keith Robert Simon (24th) and Vizzari Adrian (25th).

"After going down by the two early goals, the players are not determined enough to fight back to level the scoreline.

"Instead, the Aussies capitalise on this, to score more goals. This is the major problem among our players," said Balakrishnan, adding the two thrashings would be a good lesson for them.

With the defeat, Malaysia has collected three points from one win against Indonesia, and currently in the third place of the five-team group A overall standing. Argentina still tops the group, followed by Australia (2nd place) and Indonesia (3rd), with England on the bottom.

Asked on their next last group A match against table-bottom England tomorrow, Balakrishnan said the team must win the match if they wanted to qualify in the semi-final for the Plate Cup with RM52,500 for the champions.

The KL World 5'S is billed as the most lucrative futsal tournament in the world with prize money of US$150,000 (RM490,000).

After the completion of group matches tomorrow, the top two teams of each group will qualify for the semi-finals of the "Cup", the major title with a price money of RM175,000 for the champions, while third and fourth place teams will qualify into the semi-finals of the "Plate" and the fifth place teams progress to the final of the "Bowl".

All semi-final matches will be played on Saturday.





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