Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Bangkok: Thailand began their dual mission of qualifying for the AFC Futsal Championship 2016 and maintaining their regional supremacy with a successful defence of their AFF (ASEAN Football Federation) Futsal Championship title on Friday with a 8-0 over Singapore, while Australia also made a winning start to their campaign with a 3-1 defeat of Myanmar.
Thailand, who defeated Singapore 12-1 to win the inaugural AFF Futsal Championship in 2001, opened the scoring inside the first minute at the Bangkok Arena through Jetsada Chudech before 2013 AFC Futsal Player of the Year Suphawut Thueanklang doubled the ten-time ASEAN champions’ advantage four minutes later.
Thailand skipper Kritsada Wongkaeo bagged the first of his hat-trick in the 8th minute and added a second with a minute of the first period remaining as the home side to a 4-0 lead into the interval.
The pattern of Thai dominance continued in the second period as the two-time AFC Futsal Championship finalists matched the tally of the first 20 minutes after the break with Jetsada scoring his second of the match in the 26th minute before Piyapan Ratana got his name on the scoresheet with eight minutes later.
Kritsada completing his treble in the 35th minute but the final say in the scoring stakes would go to team-mate Nattavut Madyalan, who scored Thailand’s eighth and final goal two minutes before the final buzzer.
In the earlier fixture Manuel Sarmento netted a hat-trick to go top of the scoring charts with seven goals as Timor Leste edged Brunei 6-5 to take pole position in Group A.
Aziz bin Roslan gave Brunei a second minute lead before Lourenco Guterres (12th) and the first of Sarmento’s treble (15th) gave the Timorese a 2-1 lead at the half-time interval.
Sarmento,who scored four in Timor Leste’s 6-3 defeat of Singapore in the Group A opener, made it 3-1 four minutes into the second period before Jose Lopes extended the advantage less than 60 seconds later.
Sarmento completed his hat-trick on the half-hour mark but it was Brunei’s attack that had a greater influence of the game with doubles from Faiz bin Hasnan (28th, 34th) and Faizul Jefry (30th, 36th) levelling the match with four minutes to play.
However, Brunei’s impressive fightback was to be in vein as Lopes scored for a second time in the 37th minute with what transpired to be the winning goal as the Timorese made it two-out-of-two in the qualifiers.
Futsalroos off the mark; another pummelling for the Philippines
Australia, who finished fourth at the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship to qualify for that year’s FIFA Futsal World Cup which was held in Thailand, won their Group B curtain raiser thanks to three first-half goals and an inspired display from keeper Angelo Konstantinou, whose standout performance at the Bangkok Area saw the 37-year-old named man-of-the-match.
Daniel Fogarty opened the scoring with ten minutes played before Wade Giovaneli’s quick-fire double (14th, 15th) gave the Futsalroos a commanding lead at the break.
Khin Zaw Lin reduced the deficit two minutes after the interval with his second of the qualifiers following his goal in Myanmar’s 13-0 hammering of the Philippines on Thursday, but that was to be the only time Saeid Khodharami’s side would find a way past Konstantinou as Australia - runners-up to Thailand at the last two editions of the AFF Futsal Championship - opened their account with three points.
Meanwhile, Laos picked up their first Group B win with a 10-3 victory over the Philippines as both sides looked to bounce back after conceding 13 times in their opening defeats to Vietnam and Myanmar respectively.
Laos all but sealed the win in the first half, taking a 6-1 lead into the break thanks to single goals from Khitsakhone Champathong (6th), Soulichanh Phasawaeng (6th), Inpan Keomanixay (9th) and Chiu Nonmany (18th) as well as a 16th-minute double from Khampha Phiphakkhavong, who went on to complete his hat-trick in the 31st minute.
Inpan scored his second four minutes into the second period and after skipper Nidnilanh Chanchaleune had made 8-1 less than 60 seconds later and Khampha had completed his treble, Soulichanh rounded off the scoring with his second and Laos’ tenth in the 36th minute.
Pasilan also bagged his brace in the 36th minute with the second goal for the Philippines while team-mate Michael Mabanag was also on target less than a minute later with the game’s final goal.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for next year’s tournament and will meet in the crossover semi-finals on October 14 with the winners advancing to the final of the 2015 AFF Futsal Championship two days later.
Four teams confirmed their places at next year’s AFC Futsal Championship after Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, and Iraq advanced from the West Zone qualifiers to join champions Japan, Iran, and Uzbekistan - the top three sides at the 2014 AFC Futsal Championship and Kuwait, who finished fourth in Vietnam last year but qualified on account of hosts Uzbekistan receiving automatic qualification.