Courtesy: The Star On Line


Dynamic dozen stand tall, again

Saturday, 31 December 2016

It might have been a friendly tournament, but the Milo Malaysia futsal team left their opponents dismayed for the second year in a row after putting on a solid performance against top-tier youth futsal teams in Thailand to emerge victorious in the four-team Milo Hidup Bola Futsal Tournament in Bangkok.

A 1-1 draw against Nonthaburi FC for their first match and subsequent 12-0 whitewash of Bangkok FC gave Milo Malaysia four points with one final match against table leaders Chonburi FC left in the Under-16 round-robin format tournament.

Chonburi FC, known for having one of the most well-developed youth futsal programmes and successful senior teams in Thailand led with six points after winning its first two matches against Nonthaburi FC and Bangkok FC –teams of similar pedigree.

In the decider against Chonburi, the boys were able to muster their grit and took control of the game early on with two goals from Syahmi before Chonburi could register a goal.

The boys were able to maintain their lead in the second half by stifling the Chonburi defence until a final goal from team captain Feroz sealed the 3-1 victory and put them on top of the table.

The impressive result produced by the 12 youths: Amirul Fazly Mohd Zamri, Arham Khussyairi Ab Wahab, Ariff Shaqirin Suhaimi, Danial Fikri Roslan, Iskandar Harun, Muhamad Feroz Baharudin, Muhammad Afiq Miswan, Muhammad Izreen Izwandy, Muhammad Syahmi Zamri, Muhammad Zharif Nazhan Refli, Shivan Pillay Asokan and Wan Ikram Amir Wan Mohd Zamri were hand-picked by national futsal coach Chiew Chun Yong during the local Milo Hidup Bola Futsal grand finals.

In David and Goliath fashion, the 12 players were only able to spend four days under the guidance of Chun Yong who served as Milo Malaysia’s head coach and a five-day training stint with Bangkok FC, Chonburi FC and Nonthaburi FC coaches before facing opponents that trained consistently for months and years in futsal.

“It is always good to start as underdogs,” Chun Yong said after the match at the 72nd Anniversary Indoor Stadium in the Min Buri district.

“With only three training sessions, I could only come up with a short-term plan based on their individual ability and formulated a strategy against the other teams.

“I had warned the players not to take it easy against these three teams,” he said, adding that the Thai teams had sent out their backup and reserve players for the training sessions together with Milo Malaysia then put in their first team players for the matches.

He commended the players for playing well in the final game against Chonburi FC.

“They were very focused throughout the tournament and nobody took things lightly,” Chun Yong noted.

The national coach also said the level of competency between Malaysia and Thailand were not far apart at the moment, and given the right training with the right attitude and discipline, they could go on to be professional players.

Iskandar Harun, 16, who was the only East Malaysian on the team said he had learned valuable lessons in Bangkok about futsal and fitting in with new teammates.

“It is my first time leaving Malaysia and training with a new team. I was nervous at first because the Thais are known to have good teams but our coach was able to guide us through the challenge.

The pint-sized forward from Asajaya, Sarawak, added that he hopes to be able to play for a big team next year since he will not be able to take part in the Hidup Bola Carnival.

Milo sports marketing assistant manager Lim Kerwin, who was also present, said the players were selected for the training stint in Bangkok based on the potential seen during the Hidup Bola grand finals that was held in November.

“The boys played very well as a team and fought hard in their matches and we are very proud of their achievement. Winning it again is a bonus, so we hope that this will encourage clubs to look at the talent available in these boys.

“But Milo Hidup Bola is not only a showcase of Malaysian players to the teams in Thailand, it is also a platform to show the youths in Malaysia that we have the talent to perform well and we hope that their achievement can inspire more kids to get into sports.

He added that the Hidup Bola platform not only helps to grow futsal but also football among the Under-16 and Under-12 age groups.

“We will continue to focus on the grassroots development because it is good for the youths to learn the skills from futsal even though they might want to embark on a career in football later on.

“It is also the right age to shape them with all the life values that sports can teach them as we believe that sports is a great teacher because our aim is to produce a holistic individual who is not just healthy physically but also mentally.”


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