AFC Women’s Futsal C’ship: Uzbekistan 4-9 Malaysia

The action went from one end of the court to the other but while there was no shortage of excitement, the match remained goalless for the first quarter-of-an-hour.

Norhawa Yasin broke the deadlock in the 15th minute before Farahiyah Ridzuan struck 60 seconds later to give the home side a 2-0 lead at the break.

Nur Shazreen extended Malaysia’s advantage four minutes into the second period and although Makhliyo Sarikova got Uzbekistan on the scoreboard in the 25th minute, Usliza Usman hit the target to restore her side’s three-goal cushion barely a minute later before Norhawa extended the lead to four goals with her second of the game in the 27th minute.

The Uzbeks endeavoured to find a way back into the contest as the match entered into the final ten minutes and in the 32nd minute Sarikova grabbed her second and Mahliyo Yusupova also got on the scoresheet as the Central Asians pegged the score back to 5-3.

With five minutes remaining Sarikova became the first player to score a hat-trick at the AFC Women’s Futsal Championship and it wasn’t long before Norhawa and Farahiyah followed in her footsteps and score their trebles.

Norhawa became the first Malaysian to net a hat-trick at the ground-breaking tournament when she scored her third in the 38th minute after goals from Farahiyah (35th) and Fatin Shahida (37th) before Farahiyah sealed the 9-4 victory as she became the third player claim a treble when she scored the final goal of the game with a minute left on the clock.

What they said…

Chiew Chun Yong (Malaysia coach)