Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Bangkok: Thailand will defend their AFF (ASEAN Football Federation) Futsal Championship crown against Australia in a repeat of the last two finals after the the ten-time regional champions left it late to eventually defeat Vietnam 6-0 and the Futsalroos saw off Malaysia 6-2 in Wednesday’s semi-finals.
In the first of the final-four encounters neither Thailand nor Vietnam could get on the scoreboard in a tightly-contested first period at the Bangkok Arena and the barren spell continued for nine minutes after the restart, with Jirawat Sornwichian finally breaking the deadlock.
The ten-time AFF Futsal Championship winners stamped their authority on the match in the final ten minutes with Nattavut Madyalan making it 2-0 on the half-hour mark before Asian futsal superstar Suphawut Thueanklang netted a hat-trick (32nd, 38th, 39th).
The three goals from Suphawut, the 2013 AFC Futsal Player of the Year, Top Scorer and MVP as Chonburi Bluewave won that year’s AFC Futsal Club Championship, took the 26-year-old’s individual tally for the 2015 AFF Futsal Championship to 11, one less than team-mate Jetsada Chudech, who maintained his record of scoring in every match of this year’s tournament so far when he netted his 12th of the campaign in the 39th minute of Thailand’s win over the Vietnamese.
In the later semi-final, Australia also scored six times to book their place in Friday’s 2015 AFF Futsal Championship final with Nathan Niski opening the scoring in the ninth minute before a double from Daniel Fogarty (10th, 13th) gave the Futsalroos a 3-0 advantage at the interval.
Akmal Yazadh reduced the deficit in the first minute of the second period but Australia were not to be denied a place in the AFF Futsal Championship for the third year in a row, with two goals from Adam Cooper (28th, 32nd) and a 36th minute Jarrod Basger strike making it 6-1 before Saiful Nizam scored Malaysia’s second in the 37th minute to complete the scoring.
The four AFF Futsal Championship semi-finalists make up the ASEAN zone’s qualifiers for the AFC Futsal Championship 2016 with the quartet of Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam joining Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Qatar - who made it through from the West Zone qualifiers - at next year’s finals in Uzbekistan.
Twelve teams are now confirmed for the continental tournament with the eight qualifiers joining 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.
Four more teams will be added to list of competitors with the top two teams from the East Zone qualifiers and the top two teams from the Central Zone qualifiers completing the picture.
The five-team East Zone qualifying competition takes place in Mongolia while four teams will face off in Tajikistan in the Central Zone, with both tournaments kicking off on November 14.