Thailand through to second round after Solomons shock

Written By Unknown on Sunday, 11 November 2012 | 04:42

Thailand reached the second round at the Futsal World Cup for the first time yesterday following the Solomon Islands' shock win over Guatemala.

The Thais will next meet favourites Spain in the last-16 round tomorrow.

Thailand finished third in Group A on Wednesday and had to rely on yesterday's results to find out if they would advance past the first round.

The Solomon Islands then did Thailand a huge favour when they stunned Guatemala 4-3 in one of the biggest upsets in Futsal World Cup history.

It was the Solomon Islands' first-ever win in the World Cup. They had been hammered 16-0 by Russia and lost 11-3 to Colombia in their first two games.

Their historic victory sent Thailand to the second round as one of the four best third-placed sides along with the top two teams from each of the six groups.

Thailand are playing in their fourth World Cup, having been eliminated at the group stage in all their previous finals appearances in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

The Thais are one of the fastest-improving sides in futsal. They stunned Iran in the semi-finals of this year's Asian championship before finishing runners-up behind Japan in their best-ever showing in the continental event.

In the second round tomorrow, it's Thailand v Spain, Portugal v Paraguay, Iran v Colombia and Japan v Ukraine.

The remaining second-round matches are scheduled for Monday – defending champions Brazil v Panama, Serbia v Argentina, Russia v Czech Republic and Italy v Egypt.

Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/320472/thailand-through-to-second-round-after-solomons-shock