Courtesy:
The AFC.comNagoya Oceans 5-2 All SportsTuesday, 03 July 2012Kuwait City: Defending champions Nagoya Oceans recovered from their first day loss to Ardus by booking a place in the semi-finals of the AFC Futsal Club Championship after defeating Lebanon’s All Sports Club 5-2 in their last Group B fixture on Tuesday.
With Ardus winning their match against Thai side GH Bank, Nagoya qualified as the group runners-up and await a potential semi-final clash against Iran’s Sanaye Giti Pasand, depending on the results of the Group A match between Giti Pasand and hosts Yarmouk SC later tonight.
All Sports, despite playing good futsal in all three matches, will go home early having seen one win, one draw and one defeat in the campaign.
Rafael Henmi and Tomoki Syshikawa fired two goals each for the Japanese champions while Japanese international Kenichiro Kogure netted his first goal of the tournament. Another Japanese playing for All Sports Bruno Katakeyama was the only All Sports player to score as their second goal came as an own goal.
Nagoya started with a cautious approach but they were soon rewarded with a 1-0 lead after Kogure released a perfect ball for Henmi in the 3rd minute.
“We knew that a draw would be enough to progress but the early goal jolted out strategy,” All Sports coach Dory Zhakour said after the match.
“We should hold our heads high for the performance we put on throughout the tournament as we were the best team in the group, which was by far a ‘group of death’.
“We managed to draw GH Bank, defeated Ardus who had beaten Oceans and also today the result did not go our way but we played good futsal,” Zhakour said.
All Sports goalkeeper Rabie Jamil, who was magnificent in first two matches, had a nightmare game as his blunder helped Oceans double the lead in the 17th minute when Jamil was left wrong footed allowing Kogure’s shot to travel inside his net.
“I don’t know what happened to him today, there were so many mistakes from him,” coach Zhakour summed up the goalie’s performance.
All Sports Japanese player Hatakeyama scored through a solo effort in the 25th minute to reduce the deficit by 2-1 but Oceans extended the lead just a minute after Hatakeyama’s goal.
Stubborn All Sports again found another goal through Oceans’ goalie Hisamitsu Kawahara’s own goal but afterwards the Japanese controlled the match and added two more goals to dash the hopes of the Lebanese champions.
“We had some injury concerns and a few players were not feeling well but despite those limitations, we played well and deservedly booked a place in the semi-final,” Oceans’ Portuguese coach Jose Amarante told reporters afterwards.
“Now we finished second and it seems as if we would face Iran’s Sanaye Giti Pasand in the semis, it would be a great game,” he said.
“Having a much-deserved rest day on Wednesday, I hope our injured players get ready for the semi-final,” he added.
Courtesy:
The AFC.comGH Bank 2-9 ArdusWednesday, 04 July 2012Kuwait City: Dilshod Irsaleiv scored four goals as Ardus stormed into the semi-final of the AFC Futsal Club Championship with a 9-2 win over Thai champions GH Bank.
In the last match played on Tuesday at Al Arabi Indoor Stadium, Jamoliddin Sharipov and Jonathan Hernandez scored a brace with goalkeeper Rustam Umarov also joining the demolition act with a 39th minute goal.
GH Bank were in total control of the match and were soon rewarded in the 10th minute through captain Panomkorn Saisorn.
But the Uzbeks were totally a different side after trailing by a goal down as they never let Thailand have the upper hand throughout. Irsaleiv scored the equaliser just a minute after Saisorn's goal and Hernandez made it 2-1 a minute later which opened the goal floodgates. Irsaleiv is the tournament’s leading goalscorer so far with six goals from three matches.
“There was clearly lack of concentration, we took the lead but failed to hold on to it with so many silly mistakes,” GH Bank coach Rakhpol Sainetngam told reporters.
“Besides, we were up against a quality side with strong determination. There are people in their delegation who had worked in Thailand and know our strength and weaknesses,” he added.
Sainentngam’s counterpart Alexander Petrov, whose side finished top of Group B to avoid a potential clash with Iranian champions Sanaye Giti Pasand, hailed the Thai team stressing that the score did not tell the actual story of the match.
“This score is tricky, it was never an easy match against a strong opponent but at the end of the day we were the deserved winner and I am happy that we finished on top of the group,” he said.
“We knew that it was an important fixture by many reasons but we were just concentrating on a win regardless of the potential opponents whom we are going to face in the semi-final.
“Giti Pasand are still a team to beat but we are not scared of facing them at any stage of the competition,” he added.
Courtesy:
The AFC.comYarmouk 1-5 Sanaye Giti PasandWednesday, 04 July 2012Kuwait City: Iran international Ahmad Esmaeilpour scored a hat-trick as Sanaye Giti Pasand set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash against defending champions Nagoya Oceans with a 5-1 victory over hosts Yarmouk on Tuesday.
Giti Pasand won all their matches to top Group A where Al Rayyan managed to emerge second after holding Vietnam’s Thai Son Nam 2-2 elsewhere at the Al Arabi Stadium.
Hosts Yarmouk bowed out of the competition as they lost the first match 4-3 to Al Rayyan before succumbing to another defeat today with their only win of the competition coming against the rock-bottom Vietnamese on Monday.
Apart from Esmaeilpour’s hat-trick, Sajjad Bandi Saadi (pic) and Saeid Taghizadeh also notched a goal apiece for the Iranian champions while Brazilian export Thiago Gabriel grabbed a goal which turned out to be mere consolation for the hosts.
Yarmouk had themselves to blame in the match as Fawzi Almass missed from the point blank range and Giti Pasand went on counter attack and broke the deadlock in the 10th minute through Esmaeilpour.
Spurred by capacity local supporters at the Yarmouk Stadium, Yarmouk levelled the scores in the 22nd minute through Gabriel but that was the only cheering moment for their Brazilian coach Eder De Souza in the entire second half.
“I am saying it so many times, we play well but silly mistakes let us down and today was not an exception,” a visibly dejected Yarmouk 33-year-old coach De Souza told reporters after the match.
“Clubs representing Iran are big sides, you cannot make mistakes against them, at this level a single mistake could cost you the match like what happened today.
“But we had a good experience playing at this competition, the clubs from Kuwait should feature at this level regularly like those of Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Thailand,” he added.
De Souza’s Giti Pasand counterpart Alireza Afzal was full of praise for his players to play yet another attacking and attractive futsal.
“The first match of the competition was against a technically gifted and agile Thai Son Nam side and we were top over it, the second match had physical attributes in it against Al Rayyan and we emerge stronger and today it was against a home side with quality foreign players and experienced squad and we came unscathed,” he said.
“It's good to win all the matches and top the group, it will enhance the character of the team,” he added.
Courtesy:
The AFC.comThai Son Nam 2-2 Al RayyanWednesday, 04 July 2012Kuwait City: Qatar champions Al Rayyan managed to book a berth in the AFC Futsal Club Championship semi-final after playing a fighting 2-2 draw with Group A rock-bottom side Thai Son Nam of Vietnam on Tuesday.
With hosts Yarmouk SC playing a simultaneous kick-off match at Yarmouk Stadium, Al Rayyan had a nervy final ten minutes but they held on to salvage a point to set up a semi-final clash with Group B winners Ardus of Uzbekistan.
Mohssein Amro (pic) and Ali Al Sabah were on target for Al Rayyan while Thai Son Nam finally found the back of the net only in their third match of the competition with Phung Trong Luan and Le Quoc Nam scoring goals for them.
Al Rayyan dictated the early proceedings and were duly rewarded with a seventh-minute strike from Amro. Thai Son Nam, who were playing the match for the pride, levelled the score in the 14th minute from an individual effort of Trong Luan.
“We had to get something from this match as we wanted to conclude the tournament with some promises,” Thai Son Nam’s Italian coach Sergio Gargelli told reporters.
“I must admit that Al Rayyan players were looking a bit tired but we were a better side today and I could see vast improvement in our team,” he added.
Al Rayyan again took the lead when Al Sabah scored his second goal of the tournament in the 24th minute but Thai Son Nam again restored parity when Quoc Nam connected a thunderous strike in the 32nd minute.
Both the sides had a couple of good opportunities later but knowing that a point would be enough for them to secure a passage to the semi-final, Al Rayyan were happy to stay less adventurous in the later part of the match.
“On paper all the three sides were not out of the competition before the match so we knew it would be a difficult match,” Al Rayyan’s Spanish tactician Juan Antonio said.
“It was not the performance I had expected from my boys but we were a bit lucky to get a point from the match and sneaked through to the semis.”
Antonio also agreed on the point raised by Gargelli on the fatigue concern of Al Rayyan players. “It is true, my boys looked tired throughout but it was not their fault, they were playing three matches in a row. The good side of it is tomorrow we have rest day, so the boys will get a good rest and prepare themselves for the semi-final.”
Posted by
Luca Ranocchiari -->
luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com
