Indonesia beats England in world futsal meet

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia registered a surprise 3-2 win over England at the KL World 5s futsal (indoor, 5-a-side soccer) tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Friday, a report said.

The two teams met in the bowl semifinals match, which was played among the bottom-placed teams in their respective groups.

Indonesia last in Group B after losing to Argentina 20-1 and Japan 9-1 while England suffered its defeats to Iran and Uzbekistan in Group D.

In the England game, Indonesia fielded Achmad Ramdhani, Andrian Asuri, Akbar Mallarangan, Andri Irawan and Listiyanto Raharjo as goalkeeper and team captain.

Edward Amaluddin put Indonesia in the lead after he scored in the eighth minute of the first half. Indonesia continued to attack but poor control of the ball prevented them from building the lead.

England equalized through Paulo Osborne in the 17th.

Entering the second half, England took control and led after Benjamin Goddard netted home in the 26th minute.

Trailing by a goal, Indonesia began to claw back and was rewarded seven minutes later when Akbar Mallarangan found the back of the net. In the dying seconds of the game, England was caught in an abrupt let-up to allow Edward Amaluddin to steal the winning goal for Indonesia.

The team broke into cheers at the end of the game while the opponents left the court in dejection.

"We're glad that we could beat England and reach the final of the bowl competition. We were lucky to score in the last seconds," Aurias Rahanthoknam, the Indonesian head coach, said in a release.

"Anyway, a win is a win. We're happy to take it," he said.

Indonesia, whose team members are mostly made up of players recruited from the national students' futsal league, will face the winner between South Africa and Malaysia, which play their semifinals match on Saturday.

Japan was leading Uzbekistan 3-0 in the plate competition, which is played among the group runners-up, while the cup competition pitted Argentina against Iran in the first semifinal match and Brazil against Uruguay in the second.