Malaysia eye spot in 2014 AFF futsal final

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) want the National futsal squad to qualify for the final of the 2014 Asean Football Federation (AFF) Futsal tournament held at the Malawati Stadium in Shah Alam from Sept 19 to 27.

FAM's Futsal and Beach Soccer committee chairman, Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi said the National squad under Maizal Hairi Marzuki must make full use of home ground advantage to qualify for the final since Malaysia would be hosting the tournament.

"I hope we can emerge as the Group A winner to enhance our chances of making the final. In the group stage we must focus on Australia and Indonesia," he told reporters after receiving sponsorship pledge for the tournament at Wisma FAM, Kelana Jaya.

Mohd Yusoff said the results of a series of friendly matches against Thailand was very promising since the National team won four of the six matches played against Thailand.

"The players will head to Malacca today (Thursday) for a motivational camp. In my observation during the friendly matches against Thailand was that the players showed too much respect for their opponent.

"We hope to beef up their mental strength through the motivational camp," said Mohd Yusoff.

In the competition, Malaysia have been drawn in Group A with Australia, Brunei, Timor Leste and Indonesia while Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and the Philippines are in Group B.

Malaysia's best achievement in the tournament is a runner-up spot in 2003 when the tournament was hosted in Kuantan, Pahang and repeated the feat in 2005 when Thailand were the host.

Maizal's boys open their campaign against Indonesia on Sept 19 before taking on Brunei (Sept 20), Australia (Sept 22) and Timor Leste (Sept 23).