Okay, I'll say it: Sadly, I didn't make the cut for the first-ever international tourney for our first-ever national ladies futsal team. Loads of politics surrounding this--as with many other sports in Malaysia, sigh--but anyway am proud of my fellow trainees who did make it to the 2nd Asian Indoor Games in Macau recently.
Though our results were a tad scary (see below), but hey we gotta start somewhere! Plus we did draw into the tough group (read: Thailand, Iran, and eventual '07 champs Japan) so the fact that newbies-us did manage to sneak some goals past the more experienced teams is pretty good, I reckon.
Here're Malaysia's scores:
FIRST ROUND
Iran vs Malaysia 13-1
Thailand vs Malaysia 17-0
Malaysia vs Japan 0-5
SECOND ROUND
4th of A vs 3rd of B: Malaysia vs Philippines 2-5
3rd of A vs 4th of A: Iran vs Malaysia 17-2
In the final matches, Uzbekistan beat Vietnam 2-1 while the Japs overcame SEA giants Thailand 5-3.
I've gotta admit that we have a LONG way to go, but if we don't try then we'll never advance in the sport, innit.
Nways, below are some pictures of my fellow lady futsallers in action. Oh, and I'm proud to announce that my team, Sports Barn Wildcatz, had one rep in Raveena who also scored one for Malaysia against Iran. Yay her!
Back L-R: Mex, Aishah JB, Tom, Sasha, Kheeday, Raveena
Front L-R: Adik, Diana, Anies, Futsaller from Kelantan, Rhynnda, Futsaller from Kelantan
Back L-R: Futsaller from Kelantan, Tom, Zurl, Kheeday, Rhynnda, Raveena
Front L-R: Futsaller from Kelantan, Adik, Futsaller from Kelantan, Anies, Diana, Aishah JB
Malaysian skipper, Sasha, shaking hands with the Japanese captain
Sasha doing her thang versus the Filipinas! This girl is truly something, seriously
Raveena (pivot), Diana (left ala), Kheeday (right ala) and Adik (last man) in action against Iran
Raveena terrorising up front. She didn't score in this one, but she did put one at the back of Iran's net!
Diana letting one slip by the Thai goalie. Supporting her on the right is leading scorer for Malaysia, Sasha, who contributed 2 out of our 5 goals. The fifth was courtesy of Aishah Kelantan
