Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Bangkok: South East Asian futsal superpower Thailand defeated Australia 5-3 at the Bangkok Arena on Friday to win the AFF (ASEAN Football Federation) Futsal Championship for the 11th time.
The 2015 decider brought together the two protagonists from last year’s final in Shah Alam, when saw the Thais run out comfortable 6-0 winners to claim the title for the tenth time in 11 editions of the tournament, with their only absences from the roll of honour coming in 2010 when they didn’t take part in the competition.
But the Futsalroos proved a much more formidable opponent this time around and after a goalless first period they took the lead, with Jarrod Basger putting Australia one up two minutes after the interval.
Two goals in the 29th minute from Thailand skipper Kritsada Wongkaeo turned the match in favour of the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup hosts, who extended their lead to 4-1 through goals from Sorasak Phoonjungreed (34th) and Warut Wangsama-Aeo (35th).
Jonathan Barrientos reduced the deficit in the 36th minute before Daniel Fogarty gave the Futsalroos hope of forcing extra time when he struck in the last minute with his 12th of the campaign, a goal that took the 26-year-old to the top of the scoring charts alongside Thailand’s Jetsada Chudech.
However, barely a minute after Fogarty had brought Australia to within one of the Thais tally man-of-the-match Kritsada completed his hat-trick to ensure the 10,000 fans packed into the Bangkok Arena could celebrate another title for the undisputed champions of South East Asian futsal.
Tenacious Tigers take third
Malaysia scored three times in the final eight minutes to overturn a 5-3 deficit and defeat Vietnam 6-5 earlier on Friday to deny the Vietnamese a hat-trick of third-place finishes following their victories over Indonesia in 2013 and 2014.
Vietnam took the initiative in the first period and by the 13th minute were 3-1 up following Duong Anh Tung’s fourth-minute opener and goals from Vu Xuan Du (11th) and Tran Van Vu (13th) either side of Khairul Effendy 12th minute strike for Malaysia.
But the Tigers showed their tenacity when they battled back to make it 3-3 going into the interval, with Khairul Effendy pulling one back in the 14th minute before Saiful Nizam equalised two minutes before the half-time buzzer with the first of his hat-trick.
Le Quoc Nam put Vietnam back in front one minute into the second period before the 2014 AFC Futsal Championship hosts extended their lead to 5-2 on the half-hour mark.
And for the second time in the match the Malaysians fought back with Saiful Nizam (32nd) and Ahmad Fawzul (34th) bringing Malaysia back on level footing for the second time in the contest.
And with less than 60 seconds to play before extra-time, Saiful Nizam struck his third of the game to give Malaysia the 6-5 victory and a third-place finish at the AFF Futsal Championship for the fourth time since the tournament’s inception in 2001.
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.