Crushing defeat for Qantas Futsalroos

The Qantas Futsalroos have suffered a crushing 5-1 defeat at the hands of Kyrgyzstan, in their opening match of the AFC Futsal Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The Qantas Futsalroos have suffered a crushing 5-1 defeat at the hands of Kyrgyzstan, in their opening match of the AFC Futsal Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Confident of a good opening performance, the Qantas Futsalroos were never in the match and their only goal came in the very last minute and courtesy of an own goal.

Kyrgyzstan, who made the semi finals in the 2005 edition, capitalised on Australia-s lacklustre start, opening the scoring in the 5th minute.

The killer blows came in the space of a minute from Jenish Mamatov, with goals in the 12th and 13th minutes. Deflated the Futsalroos conceded another shortly afterwards to trail 4-0 at half time and with a mountain to climb in the second half.

With the game in the bag, Kyrgyzstan consolidated by maintaining their lead, although they added a fifth goal, before they helped Australia get on the scoreboard with an own goal.

Australia coach Scott Gilligan told the AFC Official Website, “Kyrgyzstan were deserving winners. The last time our team gathered was for the FIFA World Futsal Championship in 2004. That was 18 months back. Naturally, the absence of mutual understanding affected our game.

“Now that we have joined the AFC we will get more opportunities of playing,” Gilligan added.

The result has virtually ended any chance of the Futsalroos qualifying for the semi finals, with Kyrgyzstan favoured to now top the group. Only the top teams in each group will advance to the semi finals.

In the other group match, West Asian rivals Kuwait and Lebanon staged a drama-charged match, with game finishing in a 5-5 draw. Lebanon staged a remarkable comeback to come from four goals.

Australia will now play Kuwait on Tuesday.