Qantas Futsalroos Looking To Bounce Back Against C

Australia’s hopes of progressing past the first round of the FIFA Futsal World Championships, will more than likely be determined tonight, when they take on the Czech Republic in Chinese Taipei’s capital Taipei City.

Australia-s hopes of progressing past the first round of the FIFA Futsal World Championships, will more than likely be determined tonight, when they take on the Czech Republic in Chinese Taipei-s capital Taipei City.   After being beaten 10-0 in their opening fixture against Brazil, the Qantas Futsalroos cannot afford to slip up against the Czech-s, who managed to escape with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Thailand.   Tonight-s match kicks off at 9.00pm (AEDST) and can be seen on SBS TV tomorrow night at 11.00pm.   FIFA.com reports that Australia's positive coach Scott Gilligan wasn't too downhearted: "I think we played quite well against Brazil, that is why I was a bit disappointed to lose with ten goals difference. But we are now focused on the next match and we are quite optimistic that we can beat the Czechs - they had to struggle a lot against Thailand."   While they went down by ten goals, many at the game felt that very few teams on the planet could have lived with Falcao and his team mates on the night, as they showed just why they are favourites to win their fourth world title.   The Czech-s made very heavy weather of edging past the Thais, who lost to Australia in a pre-World Championship tournament in Brazil two weeks ago.   Michal Striz knows how important the next game is: "The game against Australia is definitely a key match. In our opener we were very nervous, as it was our first ever World Cup match. We definitely have to improve, if we want to beat Australia. They are very strong especially in defence and we will have to play on a high level throughout the whole match."   While a draw could well still be sufficient to get Australia into the next round, provided they beat Thailand, goal difference may well play a significant part in deciding the second team, so with 10 goals already to the minus, Gilligan though, will want nothing less than a win.   One player who will play a crucial role in keeping the Czech-s out will be goalkeeper Gavin O-Brien (pictured above), who despite conceding 10 goals, was Australia-s best player, by denying many other attempts by Brazilians. O-Brien received a lot of praise for his performance from opposition coaches and the media.   In team news Paul Lombardo will be part of the squad for tonight-s match after missing the Brazil match through illness, although Scott Manson is likely to be absent again with a niggling injury. The rest of the squad is fit and feeling confident they can beat the Czech-s.   A win over the Czech-s will be just the third by an Australian team at a Futsal World Championships and the first since 1992, when they beat Costa Rica.