HO CHI MINH CITY: Lebanon and Hong Kong completed the semi-final line-up of the AFC Futsal Championship's Plate competition on Wednesday after contrasting wins. Lebanon walloped Macau 10-1 while Hong Kong struggled hard for their 1-0 win over Chinese Taipei. Lebanon will face off against Palestine in the semi-finals on Friday and Hong Kong will take on Iraq. Both Palestine and Iraq booked their berths in the last four on Tuesday. A series of doubles from Ibrahim Hammoud, Abbas Fadallah, Hayssam Atwi and Khaled Takaji combined with individual efforts by Ahmed Daher and Serge Said helped Lebanon punish Macau in Group K who could score just one goal through Chan Tsi Yeung. The win gave Lebanon nine points, while Indonesia finished second with four points after a 4-4 draw with Malaysia in the other group match. ASEAN futsal runners-up Malaysia also finished on four points but were pushed to third because of inferior goal difference.

"Our goal is to win and we spent all our efforts towards this goal," said Lebanese coach Dory Zakhour. "We will change our strategy in the next match against Palestine." For Malaysia, Mohammad Faizul Bin Abdul Gaffar, Mohamed Ruzaley Bin Abdul Aziz, Ahmad Rizal Bin Abdul Rahim and Ng Boon Leong were on target while Indonesia leveled the score through Ricardo Vernes (a brace), Victor Vennard and Jaelani Ladjanabi.

"We had a lot of opportunities but both the teams have improved," said Malaysia coach Sergio Machado. "Our players have got a lot of experience from this tournament and I am happy with that." "I think a draw is fair today," said Indonesian coach Justin Lhaksana.

The other semi-finalist Hong Kong's match winner came in the 27th minute through Szefo Man Chuan. The encounter was evenly poised at times but Chinese Taipei began to tire towards the end and allowed Hong Kong to make inroads. Meanwhile, Korea Republic took it out on Maldives 13-3 for their poor run throughout the event in their last Group L match. Li Xyung Min scored five goals while Lee Sang Keun added four more. Oh Su Taek, Cho Jae Suk, Cho Il Nam, and Jung Jin Hang scored one each. A brace by Mohamed Mahzoom and a goal from Nasser Abdulla was all Maldives could manage in reply. But the victory was small consolation for the Koreans who finished third in the group, just ahead of the team they beat today. Hong Kong topped the group with nine points, leaving Chinese Taipei stranded on six.