Caption: Brunei (white) and Indonesia (red) players in action during their AFF Futsal Championship 2017 match yesterday at the Pu Tho Indoor Stadium in Vietnam. Picture: Courtesy of Vietnam Football Federation
Yee Chun Leong
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
BRUNEI succumbed to their second straight defeat in as many days in group A of the AFF Futsal Championship 2017 in Vietnam after falling 9-0 to Indonesia yesterday.
The national futsal team have now conceded a total of 22 goals without scoring any - having started out their campaign with a 13-0 defeat at the hands of previous finalists Myanmar on Thursday - at the Pu Tho Indoor Stadium in Ho Chi Minh.
Ardiansyah opened the floodgates in the third minute before Guntur Sulisto Ariwibowo doubled their lead six minutes later.
The trio of Syauqi Saud, Johanis Dominggus Mustamu and Bambang Bayu Saptaji all got on the scoresheet to put Indonesia 5-0 up at halftime.
They found the back of the net four more times after the restart through Bambang (27th min), Syauqi (30th min), Mochammad Iqbal Rahmattulah (36th min) and Alexander Benhard Larawo (40th min).
National futsal coach Hj Md Yunos Hj Md Yusof was satisfied with his side especially after producing an improved showing.
“The 9-0 result is nothing to be proud of but our team were able to put up a good fight,” said the former national goalkeeper.
“We also fixed the mistakes we made in the first game against Myanmar.
“But I’m just disappointed with the carelessness of the players that Indonesia managed to score three goals in 10 minutes in the second half.
“Overall, I’m satisfied with the effort of the players eventhough luck was not on our side to score against our opponents,” he added.
The 52-year-old also complimented his charges for stopping Indonesia, who blasted 21 past a the Philippines the day before, from scoring more.
“Indonesia, who used a lineup which beat Thailand for the first time at the SEA Games this year, were quite surprised by the quality of our team,” said Hj Md Yunos.
“Compliments should be given to our national players because they managed to prevent Indonesia from scoring more goals,”he added.
Brunei will next take on hosts Vietnam, who thrashed the Philippines 24-0 in the other Group A match, on Sunday (8pm Brunei time).
“It is a very important match for the team. We would like to give a good fight to Vietnam and look to continue improving on our mistakes from the Indonesia game,” he concluded.
