Courtesy: Gulf Daily News


Bahrain eye AFC Futsal event slot

by Patrick Salomon

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

BAHRAIN national futsal team coach Gustavo Zloccowick is looking forward to facing the challenge of qualifying for next year's Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Futsal Championship. The AFC has announced the roster of participating teams who will be vying for a spot in the biennial finals.

Bahrain are one of nine nations that will be competing in the West Asian zone's qualifiers, which are scheduled to be held in early December.

While regional powerhouses such as Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait and Qatar are among the favourites to capture one of only three tickets to the 2012 championship, Zloccowick says underdogs Bahrain are capable of rising above expectations.

"I expect the qualifying competition to be very difficult, but I believe in our Bahraini players," Zloccowick told the GDN.

"Unlike in some other West Asian countries, Bahrain have a young futsal programme. Kuwait and Qatar have very strong leagues, while Iraq, Lebanon and the UAE all have established national teams. To finish in the top three will be a very big challenge, but it is something we will fight for."

The other West Asian teams in the zonal qualifier are Syria, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, each of whom must not be taken for granted, just like Bahrain.

"I know what our Bahraini teams can do, and I know our players here are very talented and have lots of heart," Zloccowick added. "Sometimes we can do magic, other times we cannot, but we always put in hard work. If we do this this time, I think we can give ourselves a chance to qualify."

The Brazilian tactician, who also coaches Bahrain's beach soccer team, plans to begin national team training in September after the Holy Month of Ramadan. He will be calling up 30 players for the initial squad, which will then be reduced to a main training roster of 16 to 18.

A final team of 12 will then be chosen to fly the kingdom's flag in the qualifying competition, which is expected to be held in neighbouring Kuwait.

"During Ramadan, there are many leagues going on and many of our players are playing in them, so we will be evaluating them all and selecting the best ones for our training team," Zloccowick said.

"We had assembled a national team last month when we played two friendly games here against the UAE, but we had to select that squad in just two days and not all the players we wanted were available to play.

"We can say though that we formed a good base with that team, so I believe maybe 60 per cent of our training squad next month can come from them."

Qualifying for the AFC Futsal Championship will be taking place across four zones. Apart from the West Asian competition, qualifiers will be held for the East Asian zone, South and Central Asia zone, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) zone.

The top three finishing teams from each zone will advance to the finals.

As hosts of next year's championships, West Asian side UAE already have a berth in the finals. If they finish December's tournament in the top three, the fourth-ranked nation will qualify.

The East Asian qualifiers include China, South Korea, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong, Macau and Mongolia. The South and Central zone features Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Maldives; while the Asean zone comprises Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Sixteen teams will feature in next year's AFC championship. Four teams have already gained automatic berths, including home side UAE, and the top three from the tournament's previous edition held last year, namely Iran, Uzbekistan and Japan.

The Iranians became 10-time champions of the continent after hammering championship hosts Uzbeks 8-3 in the gold medal match, while bronze-medallists Japan clinched the final podium place after beating China 6-1.




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com