Courtesy: The AFC.com


Ardus out to keep Iranians at bay

Friday, 06 July 2012

Kuwait City: Uzbekistan champions Ardus will be eyeing to end the Iranian dominance in Asian futsal when they take on Iran’s all-conquering Sanaye Giti Pasand in the final of the AFC Futsal Club Championship today at the Yarmouk Indoor Stadium.

Iran’s champions Foolad Mahan Sepahan had won the inaugural continental futsal championship back in 2010 while Japan’s Nagoya Oceans defeated Iranian opponents Shahid Mansouri in 2011.

If Ardus win on Friday, they will be the first Uzbek side to win the continental honour while by making it to the final, Giti Pasand maintained the trend of having an Iranian team in the final.

“There is no secret, Giti Pasand are a level up than the rest of the sides in this competition,” Ardus’ coach Alexander Petrov told www.the-afc.com.

“But in football or futsal, it’s not always the top team wins and they should not always. We have been waiting for this match from last two years and it’s a chance for my players to step in on the big occasion,” he added.

Ardus will be without the services of Dilshod Rakhmatov who sustained injury while playing against GH Bank and also missed Ardus’ 3-1 victory over Al Rayyan in the Thrusday’s semi-final.

In contrast, apart from minor niggles, there are no injury concerns for Giti Pasand as coach Afzal Alireza has the luxury of using all his firepower against Ardus.

“Ardus are deservedly there, and it won’t be easy for my young side on Friday but we will be taking this match like what we did with other games – play good futsal and win,” Alireza told www.the-afc.com.

“We believe that we can win this tournament but at the same time we are aware that there are teams who can give us a good chase,” he said.




Courtesy: The AFC.com


Two in the fray for top scorer title

Friday, 06 July 2012

Kuwait City: Two Asian futsal stars are in the hunt for the Top Scorer award at the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2012 as the race to become the tournament's leading marksman comes to Friday's thrilling finale.

Ardus’ Dilshod Irsaliev and Sanaye Giti Pasand’s Ahmad Esmaeilpour, who hit a hat-trick in Giti Pasand’s crucial win over the defending champions Nagoya Oceans in Thursday's semi-final, currently lead the way.

The personal glories as well as team’s triumph are at the stake for Esmaelipour, who is leading the order by nine goals in four matches as Giti Pasand netted 24 goals so far in the tournament at an impressive average of six goals per match.

Irsaliev is in the chasing pack with seven goals and it would be a fairytale ending on Friday if he overturn the individual goal scoring deficit to Esmaelipour and at the same time help Ardus win the major continental title for the first time.

Esmaelipur, who is a veteran of this competition having played from Foolad Mahan Sepahan in 2010 and Shahid Mansouri in 2011, started the campaign with two goals against Vietnamese debutant Thai Son Nam. He added one more goal against Al Rayyan before hitting the top form which saw this lanky forward player scoring back-to-back hattricks against hosts Yarmouk SC and Nagoya Oceans in the semi-final.

In contrast, Ardus have been winning all those matches where Irsaliev is amongst the goal. He started the tournament with two goals against Nagoya Oceans in Ardus’ 4-2 victory over the Japanese but failed to find the net against All Sports of Lebanon which they lost 6-2.

He fired four goals against GH Bank in the Group’s last match which helped Ardus top the Group B and avoid Giti Pasand in the semis against Al Rayyan where once again Irsaliev scored a goal taking his personal tally to seven.

Fans can follow the race for the top scorer award as well as the battle between Giti Pasand and Ardus for the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2012 crown live on www.the-afc.com.




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