Courtesy: The AFC.com


Antonio has no complaints

Saturday, 07 July 2012

Kuwait City: Al Rayyan’s Spanish coach Juan Antonio has accepted the results that came to the Qatari champions in the knockout stages of the tournament as normal and urged his club to move ahead.

Al Rayyan were defeated by Uzbek giants Ardus 3-1 in the semi-final and Nagoya Oceans recorded a 4-1 victory over the Qataris in the third-place play off.

“You have to be realistic while playing in this kind of competitions,” philosophical Antonio told www.the-afc.com.

“The club competitions are always the reflection of your national team. We tried to punch above our weights as you can see the national teams of Iran and Japan are far more superior than Qatar and the rest."

Al Rayyan had suffered the same fate when they organised the competition back in 2011. They went down 6-5 in extra time against Iran’s Shahid Mansouri in one of the best matches in the history of the tournament, then they succumbed to Lebanon’s Al Sadaka in a penalty shootout in the third-place play off.

“Of course we need to find a solution but it will take time," he added. "At the moment, there is a huge gap between the champions in countries like Iran, Japan and others but still it was a competitive tournament,” he added.

“To sum up, we played really well in the tournament, had our moments like today’s match where we also had some good openings but playing against a better side than yours is not easy, they punish you for your mistakes. The goals that we conceded today could have been avoided.”





Courtesy: The AFC.com


Petrov remains positive

Saturday, 07 July 2012

Kuwait City: Despite missing out on the chance to become the first Uzbekistan club to win the AFC Futsal Club Championship, coach Alexander Petrov is optimistic about the future of the club and Uzbekistan futsal.

Petrov’s Ardus went down fighting 2-1 in the final against new continental champions Sanaye Giti Pasand on Friday.

The Iranians took the lead through Afshin Kazemi in the 3rd minute but the Uzbeks hit back in the match with Artur Yunusov’s second goal in the tournament. The Uzbek failed to find the equaliser after Brazilian Rudimar Venancio scored in the 24th minute to conclude the match 2-1.

“Of course I am sad to miss out on the final hurdle, but there are so many positives to learn from this competition,” said Petrov, who has been working with the Uzbek giants for more than two years.

“I will continue working with this side and hopefully if we manage to win the domestic championship next season, we will try to go a step further.

“I am happy and honoured that our side were in the game throughout despite playing against an undoubted best side of the competition. Playing five matches in a week take a lot from you physically and mentally but that should not be the excuse.

“We pressed hard, created chances but in football / futsal you cannot always win and today was not our day,” he said.




Courtesy: The AFC.com


Biggest day in club's history: Alireza

Saturday, 07 July 2012

Kuwait City: The newly crowned continental champions’ coach Afzal Alireza could not hide his happiness after leading Sanaye Giti Pasand to ‘the highest ever honour in the club’s history’ when they become the champions of AFC Futsal Club Championship 2012 by beating Uzbek giants Ardus 2-1 on Friday’s final.

Alireza’s Giti Pasand recorded a hard-fought 2-1 victory in the final – thanks to two superbly taken goals from Afshin Kazemi and Rudimar Venancio. Kazemi put Giti Pasand ahead in the 3rd minute but Ardus levelled the score immediately after the half time only for Giti Pasand’s Brazilian export Venancio to score the winning goal in the 24th minute in one of the low scoring finals of the championship.

“It means a lot for the club, especially if you are an Iranian club. Today is the biggest day in our club's history,” he said.

“Back home we have the toughest league in the continent and to emerge winner from there and get a ticket here is an ardent task. And in this championship, it looked easy but it was never,” he added.

While recording five wins out of five matches, Giti Pasand wrecked up 28 goals – more than five goals per match in average with their star player Ahmad Esmaeilpour scoring nine goals alone. In contrast, they only conceded five goals.

“In all those matches, we were the better side but we had some nervy moments especially in the semi-final and today.

“Ardus were excellent, they were well organized and had their moments in the match but at the end of the day, we were the deserved winners,” he said.

“I would like to thank AFC for coming up with an idea of this wonderful club competition and also our club management for handling everything smoothly,” he concluded.




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