Courtesy: The AFC.com


AFC Futsal Team of the Year: Nagoya Oceans

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

Kuala Lumpur: Nagoya Oceans have won the AFC Futsal Team of the Year award in recognition of their triumph in the 2011 AFC Futsal Club Championship.

The Oceans were in imperious form in the group stage of June 26 to July 1 event held in Qatar, defeating Chinese champions Zhejiang Dragon 8-1 in their opening fixture and after a 5-2 win over Iraq's Al Karkh the Japanese side also scored eight against the tournament hosts, triumphing 8-3 over Al Rayyan to top Group A with a 100% record.

A hard-fought 2-1 victory over Lebanon's Al Sadaka in the semi-final followed before Nagoya Oceans sealed the title after an equally competitive encounter with Shahid Monsouri of Iran, which ended 3-2 in their favour courtesy of Tamoaki Watanabe's extra-time winner.

After receiving the award from AFC Vice President Ganesh Thapa, Nagoya Oceans' Chairman Yoshihito Sakurai (pictured) said:

"I cannot express my happiness enough...this is great. But there are lots of things we must still do to promote and develop futsal in Japan, especially in the technical side."




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