Courtesy: The Bangkok Post


Winning Futsal team silences critics

2/11/2012

Criticised last week, but praised now when it counts -- Thailand's futsal team impressed everyone yesterday with its win over Costa Rica to kick off the Futsal World Cup being held here in Thailand.

Impressive Thailand off to a winning start

Hosts top Group A as Paraguay, Ukraine draw

Tor Chittinand

Thailand coach Victor Hermans and his men answered their critics with a 3-1 win over Costa Rica in their opening match at the 2012 Futsal World Cup at Hua Mark Indoor Stadium last night.

''I'm very happy and proud of my team and the performance we showed. I hope this win gives all the Thai people a boost and encourages them to come to our next match to support us from the stands,'' said the Dutch coach.

''Futsal has a future in Thailand and maybe the fans can become the sixth player on the pitch.''

Thailand suffered three defeats in a five-team warm-up tournament in Bangkok last week and the coach and his players were heavily criticised for their unconvincing performances.

''Many people criticised us last week,'' Hermans said after last night's win. ''Today, we showed we can play like we did in Dubai [where Thailand finished runners-up in the Asian Championship earlier this year].

''Costa Rica squandered several scoring chances but we did too. We deserved to win.''

Thailand will next meet Ukraine in their second Group A match on Sunday. With the Costa Rica win, the Thais are group leaders after Paraguay drew 3-3 with Ukraine.

Suphawut Thueanklang, Keattiyot Chalaemkhet and Jirawat Sornwichian scored for Thailand last night.

The hosts were the better side in the opening minutes with star forward Suphawut tormenting Costa Rica's defence.

The Thais took an 18th-minute lead. Predictably, Suphawut was at the heart of the move that led to Keattiyot opening the scoring.

Suphawut went from provider to goalscorer nine minutes into the second half.

Diego Zuniga, who is dubbed 'Ronaldinho of futsal', cut the deficit for Costa Rica before Jirawat Sornwichian restored a two-goal advantage for Thailand.

''We believe that Thailand's No.9 [Suphawut] is a very good player. But we also have to admit that we made too many mistakes in the game, and that cost us the three points,'' said Costa Rica coach Diego Solis.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com