Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
BRUNEI succumbed to their third straight defeat in as many days at the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Under-20 Futsal Championship in Bangkok after dropping 10-0 to hosts Thailand last night.
The margin could have been larger had it not been for goalkeeper Ak Muhammad Sadullah Shafee Pg Hj Asaduzzaman putting up a few stops and with their opponents hitting the post five times.
“The first half was alright but we made mistakes which could have been avoided,” said National futsal coach Qusmaini Noor Hj Rusli in a press release from NFABD.
“Our aim today (Thursday) was to defend well and we managed to do so during many of Thailand’s attacks.
“We had a few chances to counter-attack, twice in the first half and four times in the second half, but we were not able to convert those chances,” he added.
“My target is to reduce the number of goals we let in and score one or two, and from there we can slowly see an improvement,” continued the Malaysian.
Thailand broke the deadlock through Sarawut Phalaphruek in the sixth minute before Jirayu Sam Twigg doubled their lead the next minute.
It was 3-0 after an own goal by Nazirul Haziq before Sarawut added another to see them take a four-goal advantage into halftime.
A quick double by Panut Kittipanuwong put the hosts up by six before a series of goals by Weerasak Srichai, Muhammad Osamanmusa, Sarawut and Ronnachai Jungwongsuk completed the rout for Thailand.
Brunei will face Bahrain today and close out their group stage campaign against Malaysia tomorrow.
The other Group A games yesterday saw Iraq edge Afghanistan 4-3 and Malaysia beat Bahrain 6-1.
Thailand lead the six-team group with nine points and are ahead of Iraq by a better goal difference.
