Courtesy: The AFC.com


Giti Pasand 6-3 Nagoya Oceans

Thursday, 05 July 2012

Kuwait City: Sanaye Giti Pasand continued Iranian clubs’ tradition of playing in the final of the AFC Futsal Club Championship after beating defending champions Nagoya Oceans 6-3 in a thrilling semi-final on Thursday.

Iran international Ahmed Esmaeilpour scored a hat-trick to take his personal tally to nine goals in the tournament. Afshin Kazemi, Mohammad Keshavarz and goalkeeper Alireza Samimi were also on target for the Iranians. For Oceans, captain Shuta Mori, Tomoki Yoshikawa and Morioka Kaoru scored a goal apiece.

After both sides started cautiously, it was Oceans who drew the first blood after Tomoaki Watanabe released an ideal ball to unmarked captain Mori who did not miss to put the ball through the legs of Giti Pasand goalie Samimi in the 7th minute as the Iranian champions went behind for the first time in the tournament.

Giti Pasand struggled to create clear opening until the 14th minute when Esmaeilpour brought the scores level with a long-range driver. Esmaeilpour, playing his third finals after featuring in previous competitions for 2010 champions Foolad Mahan Sepahan and 2011 finalists Shahid Mansouri, later scored two goals in the final seconds of the match to complete his hat-trick.

Oceans’ goal machine Morioka Kaoru was to blame for Giti Pasand’s 2-1 lead after the Peruvian conceded the ball to Esmaeilpour who, instead of going for the goal himself, supplied an ideal ball to Afshin Kazemi to put the Iranians ahead one minute before the break.

Nagoya came back strong in the second half and when Saeid Taghizadeh missed a close chance, Yoshikawa scored a superb goal in counter-attack in the 25th minute to make it 2-2.

Both sides had their opportunities of finishing the match off but the goalkeepers were at their best before Iran international Mohammad Keshavarz struck a powerful drive to break the Japanese heart as Giti Pasand took the 3-2 lead with just three minutes remaining in the clock and added three more goals when the Japanese introduced power play.




Courtesy: The AFC.com


Ardus 3-1 Al Rayyan

Friday, 06 July 2012

Kuwait City: Ardus’ Artur Yunusov came back from a long injury lay-off to score a vital semi-final goal as they set up a final clash against Iran’s Sanaye Giti Pasand with a convincing 3-1 win over Qatar’s Al Rayyan in the 3rd edition of the AFC Futsal Club Championship on Thursday.

Apart from Yunusov, Dilshod Irsaliev continued his brilliant form by scoring a goal in the 31st minute before Shuhrat Tojiboev wrapped up the match with one minute remaining. Saad Bilal scored the solitary goal for Al Rayyan.

Al Rayyan were defeated at the same stage in last year’s competition against Iran’s Shahid Mansouri and went on to lose again in the third-place play-off against Lebanon’s Al Sadaka. In contrast, this is the first time Friday’s finalists Ardus got past the group stage.

Both sides had a good opening in the early period of the match but the goalkeepers kept those efforts at bay before Rayyan goalie Badi Johar Abdulla succumbed to a tricky shot from Yunusov.

The Uzbek league's highest scorer got his first goal of the tournament in the 9th minute after coming from a horrendous injury that kept him out of the Uzbek national team that played in the AFC Futsal Championship in May.

Al Rayyan, who were defeated by Ardus in the qualifiers of this tournament 9-2, kept on fighting and finally got their equaliser in the 22nd minute when Japanese Akira Minamoto released an inch-perfect pass to Saad Bilal.

The Qatar league champions had the best chance to go ahead in the match but Ardus goalie Rustam Umarov blocked a point-blank effort from Minamoto which turned out costly for Al Rayyan as Ardus hit back with a 31st minute lead from Irsaliev.

The Uzbek international collected a corner from Tojiboev and rounded off Rayyan goalie Abdullah to take his personal tally to seven goals.

Ardus virtually sealed the berth in the final after Tojiboev found the net in the 39th minute with Konstantin Svirodov providing a cross.

Ardus will take on Iranian champions Sanaye Giti Pasand in Friday’s final, while Al Rayyan will meet Japanese reigning champions Nagoya Oceans in an important third-place play-off as the winning country of the third place play-off gets an automatic berth in next year’s finals.




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