East Coast Heat Kick Off AFF Futsal Club Championship Campaign

The 2016 PUMA F-League Champions have arrived in Bangkok, Thailand to compete against some of South East Asia’s top futsal clubs.

East Coast Heat have been drawn in a strong Group B against Sana Khanh Hoa FC of Vietnam, Melaka of Malaysia and Vientiane Capital FC of Laos.

The last time East Coast Heat took part in the AFF Futsal Club Championship was back in 2015 where they finished 4th, a feat the squad will be looking to at least match this time round.

“The bulk of the players are still there but we are missing two or three players due to work commitment,” said East Coast Heat team manager Bobby Mazevski.

“We did not have much of game time although we have been preparing the team for the last three to four weeks.”

The squad is full of experience, boasting no less than 5 players with Futsalroos caps in Lachlan Wright, Jordan Guerreiro, Andres Gomez as well as Chris Zeballos and Robbie Maiorana who both competed at the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Colombia. They will be ably coached by former Futsalroo and Football NSW Futsal Technical Director Jamie Amendolia, as well as former Futsalroos coach and AFC/FIFA Futsal Coach Instructor Scott Gilligan.

The New South Wales based team started their tournament preparation with a friendly against local side Bangkok Highways FC.

Heat led 1-0 courtesy of a goal to Chris Zeballos before the hosts clawed one back. Despite Heat having the better chances, Highways pinched the match 2-1 with a last gasp goal as Heat experimented with their power play combinations. Overall, the signs were positive as Heat showed they can match it with teams from Asia.

Highlights of the match can be found here

East Coast open the tournament today with their first match against Vientane Capital FC at Bangkok Arena at 12:15 PM local time (3:15 PM AEST).

A full list of fixtures can be found here

Everyone at Football NSW and the Australian futsal community wish East Coast Heat the very best for the upcoming week.