Qantas Futsalroos down Malaysia

The Qantas Futsalroos has won its opening match of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Futsal Championships with a 3-2 win over Malaysia in Bangkok.

The Qantas Futsalroos has won its opening match of the Asean Football Federation (AFF) Futsal Championships with a 3-2 win over Malaysia in Bangkok.

Playing in their first international match in 10 months, the Qantas Futsalroos started the match with excellent intensity. After controlling possession early on, the Futsalroos went one-goal up through Miles Downie, who headed the ball into an open goal, following a mistake from the Malaysian goalkeeper, who failed to take care of a delicately placed chip from Simon Keith.

The second goal followed soon after, with debutant Scott Dingwall making an immediate impact. Dingwall converted his opportunity with a well placed far post finish following a counter attack instigated by Scott Manson.

The Malaysian team rallied in the last five minutes of the first half and were handed a golden opportunity to get themselves back into the game through a sixth foul by Australia. The 10 metre penalty converted into the top right hand corner, giving Gavin O-Brien no chance.

After some sustained pressure from the Australian team in the first ten minutes of the second half, Malaysia equalized against the run of play, through a sharp counter attack.

Australia was stung into action and went in search of the win, raising the intensity and taking the game to the Malaysian team. It was not until the second last minute of the game when the Qantas Futsalroos were handed one last opportunity to steal a late victory through a 10-metre penalty. Up stepped the spot kick specialist Adrian Vizzari, who converted with a low drive to the bottom left corner to give the Futsalroos the win, which takes them to the top of group B on three points equal with Indonesia following their 1-0 victory over the Philippines earlier in the evening.

Stand out players for Australia were Luke Haydon, Adrian Vizzari, Scott Manson and Lachlan Wright.

Australia-s next match is against Indonesia later today, followed by the third group match tomorrow against the Philippines.

Match Details

Australia 3 (Miles Downie 8-, Scott Dingwall 12-, Adrian Vizzari 39-) Malaysia 2

Australian Line-Up: Gavin O-Brien (gk), Luke Haydon, Adrian Vizzari, Scott Manson, Lachlan Wright. Subs: Simon Keith, Andrew Paine, Miles Downie, Andrew Nolan (c), Scott Dingwall, Tuan Cao, Peter Spathis (gk)

Cautions: Lachlan Wright, Andrew Nolan