LookAtVietnam – Viet Nam’s bid to reach the final of the ASEAN Football Federation Futsal (Indoor) Championships for the first time will be severely tested when they take on formidable Indonesia in the last four at HCM City’s Phu Tho Gymnasium today.

Photo: VFF

Indonesia was second in group A.

In futsal match, the first time they have ever played each other in a semi-final.

Viet Nam and Indonesia have met twice in the group stages of the annual tournament since 2005, with the former, most of whose players were footballers and not trained to play futsal, losing both times.

“Indonesian players are very experienced in futsal but our advantage is that my players are in good spirit and fans are always on our side. I think the game will be very thrilling,” Piemkum Pattaya, the head coach of the Vietnamese team, said.

“Denny Handoyo and Sayan Karmadi are very good players and we must pay special attention to them.”

“Because Indonesian players fall back very quickly to defend, it is difficult for us to attack from the centre. We will exploit the two wings,” the 41-year-old said.

“[It will be] a very tough match and we will try our best to reach the final,” skipper Ha Bao Minh said.

`Indonesia make their second successive appearance in the semifinal after beating Malaysia 7-3 and Myanmar 6-4 before losing to defending champions Thailand 2-3. Thailand won all their group matches.

“Viet Nam started their futsal in 2005. It means in four years they have grown very, very rapidly and, with Pattaya as coach, Viet Nam have improved very much. The host are a strong team now,” Justinus Lhaksana, the Indonesian head coach, said.

“[They] are the favourites, we are the underdogs; we have nothing to lose.”

“We must be very, very aware of Viet Nam during their attacks and their shooting is very hard. The Vietnamese team does not depend on one or two players. It is consistent in getting players and Pattaya can put any player in, all of them are quite equal,” he added.

“It is a 50-50 game. Viet Nam can win and we can win,” Lhaksana, who has coached Indonesian since 2005, said.

The match starts at 5pm today at Phu Tho Gymnasium and Thailand will play the Philippines in the other semi-final two hours earlier.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News