MEDIA RELEASE
HOSTS HUMBLED BY DEFENDING CHAMPIONS
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| Indonesia's Jaelani Ladjanibi (No.6 in red) against England's Shane Gill (No.11 in white) |
It started off promisingly for the Malaysians but once the Argentineans found their footing, problem loomed large and when their striker in chief Christian Borruto put one in the net for his fifth goal of the tournament, in the fourth minute, the signs were encouraging.
But to everybody's surprise, Malaysia were level in the 12th min via the effort of skipper Addy Azwan Zainal, the hopes were raised.
But not for long. Argentina pulled ahead in the very next minute with a goal from Mauro Taffarel and then Maximiliano Rescia made it 3-1 in the 14th min.
The cause was lost for Malaysia and although they tried hard to reduce the score line, things were not working in their favour.
Alamiro Vaporaki scored goal No. 4 for Argentina in the 15th min, and Taffarel was on target again in the 18th min, thanks to a deflection, and the South Americans taking a 5-1 lead into the dressing room.
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| England's Leigh Holbrook (No.5 in white) against Indonesia's Jaelani Ladjanibi (No.6 in red) |
Malaysia's coach P.Balakrishnan: "There was no shame in our defeat because we fought hard and restricted them to a single-digit score. But we were up against a very good side and my hat off to the Argentineans.
"Nobody expected us to win and the Argentineans wanted to win badly because they were looking for a place in the last four and that made it difficult for us. We have Australia next and if we want to make the cut into the last four we have to beat them. No other result would be enough."
Argentina's coach Fernando Laranagga: "We are happy with the win because we need to maintain our winning form if we want to reach the last four. The gap between us is clear for all to see.
"And the score line doesn't mean a thing. For us we want a win and we got it."
The KL World 5's takes place between 29th January and 3rd February 2008 at Stadium Negara, Malaysia's first indoor stadium and a national heritage building. The event will be telecasted to over 310 million viewers across Asia on STAR Sports with over 100 hours of coverage, comprising 30 telecast hours, including 20 hours of live programming - translating into extensive media exposure for Malaysia.
The KL World 5's will have a total purse of US$150,000, and feature 10 teams in this prestigious tournament. The event is expected to draw futsal fans from Malaysia and the region with the pedigree of the international teams such as Brazil, Argentina, Holland and England will join the likes of Asian champion Iran, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and hosts Malaysia in action.
ESPN STAR Sports and the Ministry of Youth and Sports have a rich tradition of partnerships stemming from a multi-year strategic alliance signed in October 2005 to raise participation and interest in sport in Malaysia.
TODAY'S FIXTURES (30 Jan, 2008)
| 10am: China vs Thailand | 1-5 |
| 3pm: England vs Indonesia | 2-7 |
| 5pm: Argentina vs Malaysia | 7-1 |
| 7pm: Iran vs Brazil | (LIVE on STAR Sports) |
| 9pm: Holland vs China |
CURRENT STANDINGS
| Group A | |||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | PTS | |
| ARGENTINA | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 2 | 6 |
| AUSTRALIA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
| INDONESIA | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 10 | 3 |
| MALAYSIA | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 3 |
| ENGLAND | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 0 |
| Group B | |||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | PTS | |
| THAILAND | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| BRAZIL | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| HOLLAND | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| CHINA | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| IRAN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
About the KL World 5's
The KL World 5's takes place between 29th January and 3rd February 2008 at Stadium Negara, Malaysia's first indoor stadium and a national heritage building. The event will be telecasted to over 310 million viewers across Asia on STAR Sports with over 100 hours of coverage, comprising 30 telecast hours, including 20 hours of live programming - translating into extensive media exposure for Malaysia.
The KL World 5's will have a total purse of US$150,000, and feature 10 teams in this prestigious tournament. The event is expected to draw futsal fans from Malaysia and the region with the pedigree of the international teams such as Brazil, Argentina, Holland and England will join the likes of Asian champion Iran, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and hosts Malaysia in action.
ESPN STAR Sports and the Ministry of Youth and Sports have a rich tradition of partnerships stemming from a multi-year strategic alliance signed in October 2005 to raise participation and interest in sport in Malaysia.
For more information, please visit www.klworld5s.com
About ESPN STAR Sports
ESPN STAR Sports is a 50:50 joint venture between two of the world's leading cable and satellite broadcasters. As Asia's definitive and complete sports broadcaster and content provider, ESPN STAR Sports combines the strengths and resources of its ultimate parent companies – Walt Disney (ESPN, Inc.) and News Corporation Limited (STAR) – to deliver a diverse array of international and regional sports to viewers via its encrypted pay and free-to-air services.
ESPN STAR Sports showcases an unparalleled variety of premier live sports from around the globe 24 hours a day to a cumulative reach of more than 310 million viewers in Asia. ESPN STAR Sports has 17 networks covering 24 countries, each localised to deliver differentiated world-class premier sports programming to Asian viewers. This includes ESPN Asia, ESPN China, ESPN Hong Kong, ESPN India, ESPN Malaysia, ESPN Philippines, ESPN Singapore, ESPN Taiwan, MBC-ESPN (Korea), STAR Sports Asia, STAR Sports Hong Kong, STAR Sports India, STAR Sports Malaysia, STAR Sports Singapore, STAR Sports Southeast Asia, STAR Sports Taiwan, and STAR Cricket.
On the ground, the ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. ESPN STAR Sports aims to reach consumers at any time, any place and through all new media platforms, both internet and mobile. The multi-lingual, online platforms, espnstar.com, espnstar.com.cn and espnstar.com.tw and footballcrazy.tv interact with millions of users providing them with in-depth sports news, results and competitions. Developed for the sports fan that is constantly on the move, mobileESPN and STAR Sports Mobile delivers differentiated mobile content targeted at its various audiences. mobileESPN enables the serious sports fan to follow their favourite sports more closely than ever before with a combination of specially produced video news clips, in-depth news coverage and analysis. STAR Sports Mobile aims to provide interactive and entertaining opportunities to engage with sports, delivering exclusive video excerpts from leading football clubs Arsenal and Liverpool as well as highlights from STAR Sports original programmes covering opinions, instructional tips and the latest online game reviews.
For more information, please contact:
Abdul Rahman (Twenty Four Seven Sdn Bhd)
Tel: 012-6637454
abdulrahman@media247.com.my
Elgen Kua (ESPN STAR Sports)
DID: +65 6216 6034
kuae@espnstar.com