Malaysian Futsal team will head to Iran for inter-club meet

Thestar- The national futsal team will compete in an inter-club tournament in Iran ahead of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifying tournament in Kuantan next month.

Coach P. Balakrishnan said that in the tournament in Teheran beginning next week, Malaysia would be up against top club sides from China, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Japan, Turkmenistan and the host country.

“We may not be playing against national teams but the club sides are of equal standards and they will provide us with quality sparring ahead of the AFC qualifiers,” said Balakrishnan.

He added that seven-time Asian champions Iran had a good club system to produce players of calibre for the national team.

Malaysia, Turkmenistan, Cambodia, Maldives and Vietnam will play their qualifying rounds from the Asean Zone at the Sukpa Indoor Sports Complex in Kuantan from April 18-21. Macau will host the East Zone qualifiers from April 11-23 and they involve Hong Kong, North Korea, South Korea and Australia.

Only three teams from the qualifiers will advance to the Finals in Uzbekistan from May 21-28. The winner of the two zones and the best runners-up qualify.

A total of 13 teams go directly into the Finals based on the AFC rankings. They are Iran, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Kuwait, Tajikistan, China, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Taiwan and Indonesia.

The Malaysian team: Zaidi Ramli, Nik Zainuddin Nik Othman, Abdu Halim Abdul Hadi, Mohd Fuad Yusoff, Mohd Azhari Ithnain, Mohd Saiful Mohd Noor, Norul Ahyat Elias, Mohd Feroz Abdul Karnim, Mohd Aideal Boon Abdullah, Mohd Zaidi Zulkhapri, V. Muneswaran, M. Karthik, Mohd Zary Affendi Mohd Arif, K. Thayalan, A. Gopinath.