The Thai futsal team suffered a 5-4 defeat against Australia in their warm-up match ahead of next month’s World Cup on home soil.

After beating Egypt 4-3 in their first game of the five-team All Stars Futsal Festival at the Thai-Japanese Stadium’s Keelaves 2 Gymnasium on Sunday, Dutch coach Victor Hermans’ men were brought down to earth by the Aussies.

Thailand fought back spiritedly after trailing 4-0 and 5-1 in an attempt to avoid their first-ever loss to the Futsalroos but their efforts came just short.

The Aussies raced to a four-goal lead in the opening 12 minutes through Keenan Duimpie, Tobias Seetos, Gregory Giovenali and Jarrod Basger.

Supawut Thienklang pulled a goal back for the home team after 18 minutes as the visitors led 4-1 at half-time.

Basger scored his second and his team’s fifth goal shortly after the interval before Apiwat Jamcharoen cut the deficit to 5-2 and Natee Jeepon made it 5-3. Supawut Thienklang missed from the spot before Apiwat scored a consolation goal in the last seconds.

Thailand will next meet the Solomon Islands tomorrow. Admission is free.

Meanwhile, Bangkok governor MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra apologised to compatriots last night for construction delays of the Bangkok Futsal Arena which failed to be complete on Sunday for Fifa’s final inspection.

The arena will now be handed over to Fifa on Oct 29 _ three days before the World Cup kicks off.