Phuket Sports: Aspiring Thai futsal squads pitted against Spain

PHUKET: Thailand’s male university futsal team progressed to the quarterfinals in the World University Championships (WUC), set to take on tournament favorites, Spain, later tonight.

Meanwhile, the Thailand senior males national squad are also scheduled to take on the world’s top-ranked team, Spain, in two friendly matches in Thailand this weekend.

Being hosted at the University of Minho in the Portuguese city of Braga, this year’s WUC marks the prestigious tournament’s 13th edition.

The Thai – Spanish quarterfinal will take place at 7pm local time which is 1am, Phuket time.

To watch a live stream of the match, visit: https://futsal.wuc2012.uminho.pt/index.php.

In securing their quarterfinal berth, the Thai national university team had to navigate a tough group consisting of Ukraine, Poland and Israel.

The Siamese War Elephants eventually finished second in the group, having only lost to Ukraine 2-1. Its other results in group stage included a 4-2 victory over Poland and a 6-5 win against Israel.

Only the top two teams of each group advanced, seeing the likes of Kazakhstan, Oman, Czech Republic, France, Poland and Israel exiting the tournament.

The Futsal WUC event is the same as the professional tournaments and is organized using International University Sports Federation (FISU) Futsal technical regulations, accompanied by the International Football Association (FIFA) technical regulations for Futsal.

In the men’s event’s history, 6 countries have won the title: Brazil (4), Russia (3), Ukraine (2), Portugal (1), Spain, 1 and Italy (1).

If Thailand can prevail over Spain, they will continue on to a semifinal match, to be played August 24, again at 1am Phuket time.

The other quarterfinals being contested today include Azerbaijan vs Russia, Ukraine vs Brazil and China vs Portugal.

Organized ahead of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the first of the two Thailand-Spain national level friendlies is set for 6pm, tomorrow (Friday) evening at Bangkok’s Nimibutr Gymnasium.

That match will compliment the World Cup group draw, scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, which will split the 24 qualifying teams into six groups of four.

On Sunday, August 26, Thailand, ranked 11th in the world, will host Spain in their second friendly to be played from 5pm at the Korat Chatchai Gymnasium in Nakhon Ratchasima province.

— Andrew Scott & Steven Layne