Futsal: Iran Go Down to Shock Loss

FNA - ASEAN champions Thailand pulled off a major upset in the KL World 5s invitational futsal tournament when they piped eight-time Asian winners Iran 3-2 for a place in the last four while hosts Malaysia hammered England 6-2 en route to the plate semi-finals at the Stadium Negara yesterday.

Earlier in a morning match, Iran defeated China with a 6-1 win but found the Thais a hard nut to crack in their final match of the preliminary round fixtures. The Thais advanced into the last four as the runners-up in Group B on seven points, Malaysia Star reported.

Three-time champions Brazil, who had earlier qualified for the semi-finals from the group, topped the table with the maximum 12 points. They completed their group fixtures with a 2-0 win over Holland.

The Samba boys have proved to be a class above despite not sending their top team. They had earlier scored identical 4-0 wins over China, Iran and Thailand.

Defending champions Argentina piped Australia to the top spot in Group A after both teams drew 3-3 in their final group match.

The South Americans top the group with a superior goal difference after both teams were tied on 10 points.

In today's semi-finals, Argentina will face Thailand and Brazil will take on Australia.

Meanwhile, Fadhil Yusof starred for Malaysia in their big win over England when he bagged four goals (10th, 12th, 25th, 26th). Addie Azwan Zainal (14th) and Fadzil Karnim (35th) added a goal each. Alex Sykes (11th) and March Canham (36th) scored for England.

Malaysia began the tournament with a 3-2 over Indonesia before suffering two back-to-back defeats to Argentina (1-7) and Australia (0-7) to finish third in Group A on six points.

Malaysia coach P. Balakrishnan said, "It's a great feeling to have beaten England and it will definitely serve as a morale-booster for the future of Malaysian futsal. I knew we could beat England and we took our chances well today," he said.

England coach Graeme Dell said, "We came to KL with our eyes wide open. We knew it was going to be difficult. We certainly did not expect to win all four matches. But we have learnt a lot from this trip and, hopefully, we will go on to improve."