Saturday, 17 May 2008 11:59 PM
By Paul Mavroudis
South Melbourne’s Fernando De Moraes scored twice, but the Futsalroos still went down 5-2 in their AFC Futsal Championships quarter final against host nation Thailand. Without two of its regular starters, Australia was always going to be the underdog, and so it proved in this match.
The hosts went ahead early, but Fernando twice pulled goals back for his adopted country – his first goal a long range strike to make it 2-1, and his second goal to make it 3-2 from a tight angle – but it wasn’t enough to send Australia through to the semi-finals, and the qualification to the World Cup in Brazil later this year which would have ensued.
Fernando played in almost all of Australia’s matches on the tour, including warm up matches held prior to the tournament, and will thus likely miss this Sunday’s clash against bottom of the table Frankston Pines. He should be fit and ready however for next week’s derby game against Heidelberg on Sunday week.