Courtesy: The Star On Line


An all-South American final as Argentina take on Brazil

PETALING JAYA: Defending champions Argentina will meet Brazil in the final of the Kuala Lumpur World 5s invitational futsal tournament at the Stadium Negara today and it promises to be yet another exciting encounter.

In the previous inaugural tournament in 2003, Argentina scored a golden goal to beat the three-time world champion 3-2.

In the tournament this time, the Samba boys are tipped to take home the US$50,000 purse for the champions. Although Brazil are not represented by their top team, they have yet to concede a goal and trooped into the final with a 7-0 win over Australia in the semi-finals yesterday.

The Argentines are the best attacking side in the competition with Christian Borutto as their top marksman with 10 goals. In the semi-finals yesterday, they defeated Thailand 5-3 to take their goal tally to 33 goals in five matches.

Jose Luis scored a brace for Argentina while Pablo Santiago, Ignacio Caviglia and Borutto added a goal each. Anucha Munjarern scored a brace for Thailand and Ekapong Suratsawong netted in the other goal.

Malaysia's campaign ended in the plate semi-final yesterday, losing 0-5 to Holland. The Dutch will play against Iran in the plate final today. The Iranians defeated Indonesia 13-1 yesterday.

National coach P. Balakrishnan said the absence of seasoned campaigner Jamhuri Zainuddin affected the Malaysian defence.

“We managed to keep the score down in the first half but it was always going to be difficult to play without Jamhuri,” he said.

“But generally, we have had a good tournament. We had the opportunity to play against some tough teams and this should go well for our AFC Futsal Championship preparation.”

Omar Neijari scored a hat-trick for Holland against Malaysia. Adil Salih netted one and Malaysia's Muizzudin Haris scored an own goal.






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