Courtesy: Arab Times


Iran’s SGP Futsal Club champs

Nagoya Oceans thrash Al-Rayyan 4-1 for 3rd place

10/07/2012

KUWAIT CITY, July 6: Senaye Giti Pasad (SGP) of Iran beat Ardus club of Uzbekistan 2-1 Friday to clinch the Asian Futsal Club Championship trophy in the finals played at the Yarmouk Indoor football Stadium.

Nagoya Oceans club of Japan won the third place spot after their 4-1 win over Al Rayyan club of Qatar in the playoff. The SGP opener came as Kazemi’s shot was deflected past Umarov into his own goal by Ardus defender Yunusov in the third minute, to put the Iranians 1-0 ahead. SGP piled on the pressure with Kazemi’s shots being parried off several time by Kavechenko.

It was generally a balanced game in the first eight minutes with both sides alternating in ball possession, but SGP had a slight edge. The slippery tiled nature of the tiled indoor pitch made the referee sometimes unable to tell a dive from a genuine by a player whenever there was a fall. Irsaeilev struggled to slip a pass to Sharipov who fired it pass Samimi but was denied the equalizer as the ball hit the lower woodwork and bounced off back into play.

As the second half got underway, Ardus hit the pitch running with no time to waste. Their ball possession in the early seconds of the second half paid off when Yunusov tapped in a flick from Sharipov thirty seconds into the second half seizing on an SGP defensive mix up in the 21st minute to level the scores at 1-1 for each side. Kazemi missed a point-blanc opportunity, face to face with Umarov but couldn’t score. Ismaeilpour received a yellow card in the 24th minute for diving as he dashed towards the Ardus goal area going for the kill and was challenged by the Ardus defense.

Venancio scored the second goal from a free kick pass in the 25th minute to hand his side the 2-1 lead.
Both Ismaeilpour and Irsaeilev, the two top scorers of the tournament, surprisingly were virtually absent from game. As the game got hotter, so was the tackling and the anxiety to produce the goals. Keshazarz got shoved down by Yunusov moments before he flicked the ball towards Umarov but that was fair tackle according to the referee. As the game grinded to an end, Ardus got very aggressive in their play, even though they seemed to have the momentum going their way at that point. Ardus’ Tojiboev got a yellow as a result of a harsh tackle on Kazemi in the 36th minute. He later had to be stretchered off the pitch after a clash with an SGP striker.

With about a minute remaining on the clock, Ardus sensing defeat, decided to roll the dice by adopting power play and sending all players deep into the opponent territory to for the fight. But that didn’t yield much apart from upping the pressure on the Iranians who simply sucked it up and held on to the last buzzer, to finish 2-1 for them as second champions from Iran since the tournament was launched in 2010.
Also in the playoff to determine the third and fourth placed teams in the tournament, Japanese champions Nagoya Oceans defeated Qatar’s Al Rayyan 4-1 to clinch the third place.
Rafael Henmi scored a brace while Wataru Kitahara and Shuta Mori also notched a goal apiece for the Japanese. The only Rayyan goal came from Antonio Vadillo.

Both sides started the match with free flow futsal but it was Oceans who drew the first blood in the 9th minute after Al Rayyan goalie Abdullah Badi committed a horrible mistake in front of the goal. Badi failed to gather a cross from Tomoki Yoshikawa and the ball went straight into the feet of Rafael Henmi as the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship MVP did not make any mistake to put the Japanese 1-0 in front.
Oceans’ goalkeeper Hisamitsu Kawahara also committed a silly mistake allowing Al Rayyan to get back into the match. Kawahara fumbled collecting an Antonio Vadillo shot in the 13th minute as referee Mohammed Al Haddad allowed the goal to stand for Al Rayyan.
Wataru Kitahara scored one of the best goals of the tournament after he collected a sublime pass from Yuichi Kitajima and buried a powerful left-footer giving no chance to Rayyan goalkeeper Badi for 2-1 lead in the 14th minute.

Despite missing key players in the ranks of Rafael Yoshio Sakai, Kogure Kenichiro and Tomoaki Watanabe, Oceans controlled the second half with captain Shuta Mori scoring one and setting up Henmi’s double as they sealed a comfortable 4-1 victory over the Qataris. The third place victory automatically gives Oceans a berth in next year’s Futsal League Championships tournament. Oceans who lost to Iranian club SGP in the semi-finals, put up a brilliant performance, backed by their rowdy fans who kept up the high decibels to spur on the team from buzzer to buzzer.

Awards were presented as follows:
* Fair Play: Nagoya Oceans of Japan
* Top scorer: Ahmed Esmaeilpour (SGP) with 9 goals
* MVP: Mohammed Keshavarz of SGP
* 3RD Place Team: Nagoya Oceans of Japan
* 2nd Place: Ardus FC of Uzbekistan
* Futsal Club Champions 2012: Senaye Giti Pasad (SGP) of Iran




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