Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Medellin: Thailand opened their FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016 with a 6-4 loss against Russia at the Coliseo Ivan de Bedout on Saturday (local time).
The Thais trailed by three goals before pegging Russia, only to concede three more in the highly entertaining Group B encounter.
Eder Lima showed an early glimpse of his aerial acrobatics, but both sides sparred cautiously in the opening minutes. Using his size and power to roll his defender, it wasn’t long until Lima fired a thunderous left-footed strike beyond Hankampa Katawut.
Thai Suphawut Thueanklang, scorer of the Thailand 2012 goal of the tournament, added another superb goal to his collection before the break and they were back level inside 110 second-half seconds with a quick-fire double.
But Russia came back with a vengeance, featuring with a pair of well-worked free-kicks, the latter bringing up Lima’s hat-trick and restoring a three-goal lead.
The pendulum swung again, with Gustavo in the Russian goal worked intensely, but a glaring miss from Jirawat Sornwichian meant Thailand just missed out.
Miguel Rodrigo-led Thailand will hope to get some points on the board against Cuba on Tuesday.
Thailand scorers:
Suphawut Thueanklang (18'34")
Jirawat Sornwichian (21'42")
Apiwat Chaemcharoen (21'51")
Jetsada Chudech (33'15")
Source: FIFA.com, FIFA/Getty Images