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The AFC.comMy players are brave: AmaranteFriday, 06 July 2012Kuwait City: Nagoya Oceans coach Jose Amarante rued the injuries and far-from-ideal preparation behind the failure to defend their title as Iran’s Sanaye Giti Pasand raced away with a 6-3 win over the Japanese in Thursday's semi-final of the AFC Futsal Club Championship.
Nagoya missed key players in the likes of Kenichiro Kogure and Rafael Yoshio Sakai due to injuries in the semi-final.
“We had far-from-ideal preparation before the tournament as lots of our players were involved in the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship in Dubai,” he told reporters.
“Further, a few players including Kenichiro were not in good physical shape before the tournament and on the basis of how they played, I have no complaints about my players.”
Iran international Ahmad Esmaeilpour scored a hat-trick to dash the hopes of the Japanese to retain their title as they gave away a 1-0 lead to go down 6-3.
“It’s normal in futsal, you see the big score-line but that does not mean it was a one-sided affair. After conceding late, we needed to go adventurous and they made full use of it – credits to Giti Pasand.
“It is good that we played in this championship. It was a difficult championship with quality clubs across Asia so the way our players took in the tournament must be appreciated.”
Oceans will play the third-place play-off against the loser of the second semi-final between Qatar’s Al Rayyan and Ardus of Uzbekistan.
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The AFC.comWe ensure Iran’s futsal dominance: AlirezaFriday, 06 July 2012Kuwait City: Sanaye Giti Pasand coach Afzal Alireza is proud that his side became the third Iranian team to play in the final of the AFC Futsal Club Championship after defeating defending champions Japan's Nagoya Oceans 6-3 in the semi-final on Thursday.
Iran international Ahmad Esmaeilpour scored a hat-trick to take the Iranians to the final of the competition where they are waiting for the second semi-final winner between Uzbek giants Ardus and Qatar champions Al Rayyan.
Iran’s Foolad Mahan Sepahan had won the inaugural edition of the competition back in 2010 while Shahid Mansouri failed to stamp their authority by going down against Oceans in the 2011 final.
“Iran’s futsal is great as we have so many great teams with quality players. To win the local league back home and at least reaching the final here is very important for us and Iranian futsal,” he told reporters after the match.
“You can see there were three different domestic champions in Iran in the last three years which shows how difficult it is to come here for the Iranian teams.”
Oceans took the lead in the 7th minute but the Iranians hit back which saw them scoring a late lead and then producing three goals in the last three minutes featuring a deserved hat-trick for Esmaeilpour who is the top-scorer of the tournament so far with nine goals from four matches.
“This is a young team and we have very few experienced campaigners in the side. Despite having immense talent, we were a bit nervous in the beginning but they got back into the match and here we are in the final.”
“I feel sorry for the Oceans. They are a very good competitive side with qualities all around, but we thoroughly deserved this victory,” he added.
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The AFC.comTime to regroup: AntonioFriday, 06 July 2012Kuwait City: Al Rayyan’s Spanish tactician Juan Antonio is focusing on Friday’s third place play-off against Japanese champions Nagoya Oceans after they were beaten by Uzbek side Ardus 3-1 in the semi-final of the AFC Futsal Club Championship at the Yarmouk Stadium.
Despite seeing his team scoring an equaliser in the 22nd minute, two second-half Ardus goals ended the Qatari side’s aspirations of winning the title.
“Individually, our players could not match up to Ardus today. They had psychological as well as physical barriers,” he said after the match.
“Ardus are a brilliant side and we knew it from the qualifiers. They believe in collective futsal and I know they have been training with the same squad for the last couple of years while our preparations for this tournament started just two months ago.
“We were fantastic, managed to bring the scores at level but Ardus made full use of their chances while we failed on that front. If you look at the goals we conceded, specially the second and third, those goals could have been avoided,” he said.
Al Rayyan were defeated at the same stage in last year’s competition by Iran’s Shahid Mansouri and went on to lose again in the third-place play-off against Lebanon’s Al Sadaka.
“There is another important match on Friday. Our boys are tired but the same applies to Oceans. I personally believe that there should be enough gaps for the players to deal with fatigue concerns but it’s not just our issue. We must move on and make sure that we beat Oceans which is a step further for our club.”
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The AFC.comHard work pays off: PetrovFriday, 06 July 2012Kuwait City: Ardus coach Alexander Petrov has hailed his side’s effort and commitment to make it to the final of the ongoing AFC Futsal Club Championship as Ardus are one match away from the biggest club futsal honour in the continent.
Ardus defeated Al Rayyan 3-1 to set up a title clash with Iranian champions Sanaye Giti Pasand as previously they had failed to reach the knockout stages of the competition.
“In 2011, we were still a good side and we played well enough but had some unfortunate moments and failed to progress,” the Uzbek coach, who has been coaching Ardus for more than two years, said.
“We were desperate to do better in this competition and so far the players have not let me down, they deserve more from this tournament,” he said.
Ardus qualified as an all-conquering side from Zone One of the qualification, where they toppled their semi-final opponents Al Rayyan 9-2 to emerge top of the group and qualify for the tournament proper.
“Today it was not easy to beat Rayyan at all, they gave us a good chase as at one stage the match could have gone either way.
“I also need to mention about my players’ valiant effort today as they were so keen not to slip up at this stage of the competition. Special praises go to Artur Yusunov, who for me is the top Uzbekistan player.
“I am so happy for Artur, he had a horrendous injury during the qualifiers which kept him out of the Uzbekistan national team during the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship. He came back from injury and despite playing well, which he consistently does, he was not amongst the goals. He badly needed a goal and today he scored and hopefully tomorrow he will score more.”
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luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com
