Caption: The national under-20 futsal team in a group photo before kick off against Afghanistan in the AFC Under-20 Futsal Championship in Thailand. Picture: Courtesy of NFABD
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
BRUNEI succumbed to a 14-1 defeat at the hands of Afghanistan in their first Group A match of the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Under-20 Futsal Championship in Thailand last night
Afghanistan took control of the encounter with four goals in the opening 11 minutes to carry a 4-1 advantage into halftime.
National futsal coach Qusmaini Noor Hj Rosli had hoped for a strong start but admitted that his charges could not fend off their bigger and technically better opponents.
“We lost focus at the start of the game and allowed our opponents early goals. The Afghanistan players are bigger and more physical,” said Qusmaini in a press release from NFABD.
“Another reason we lost was because we did not convert the seven chances that we had to score in the second half, and our goalkeepers were also below their real level,” he added.
“We will try our best to correct all our mistakes and close down space against Iraq tomorrow,” continued the Malaysian.
Ali Jafari broke the deadlock in the fourth minute from a freekick before two quick goals by Hassan Ali Jafari and Jawad Haidari put them up 3-0 three minutes later.
Farzad Mahmoodi added to their tally before Brunei skipper Mohd Radhi Raduan pulled one back with a long range effort just before the halftime buzzer.
Jawad scored three goals inside the first five minutes of the second half to put Afghanistan 7-1 up and their pressing kept Brunei inside their own half.
Morteza Haidari made it 8-1 and a quick double from Mohammad Wahid Samimi made it 10-1 with just over 10 minutes left to play.
Jawad scored his fifth and sixth goals soon after before Morteza Sharif Zada and Abbas Ahmadi completed the route for Afghanistan.
Yesterday’s other Group A games saw Iraq defeat Bahrain 4-1 and hosts Thailand beat Malaysia 5-2.
Brunei will next face Iraq today at 6pm local time.
They will then take on hosts Thailand tomorrow, Bahrain on Friday and close out their group stage play against Malaysia on Saturday.
