Courtesy: The AFC.com



Spirited Japan still in the hunt

Monday, 05 November 2012

FIFA Futsal WC2012 3x2Nakon Ratchasima: Japan kept alive their hopes of a place in the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup after battling back from a 5-2 half-time deficit to draw 5-5 with Portugal in a thrilling Group C encounter on Sunday.

The Asian futsal champions found themselves two-down with just two minutes at the Korat Chatchai Hall played when Ricardinho's skilful back-heel started a move that culminated with Joao Matos scoring in 49 seconds before skipper Arnaldo supplied a looping cross for Ricardinho to head home the second less than a minute later.

Cardinal got his name on the scoresheet in the 8th minute before adding his second and Portugal's fourth three minutes later and after a superb Kaoru Morioka strike had pulled one back for Japan.

Ricardinho completed his brace on 17 minutes but a slack pass from Cardinal allowed Shota Hosi to steal possession and shoot through the legs of Portuguese keeper Joao Benedito to narrow the deficit to three going into the interval.

The score remained locked at 5-2 and Japan, needing to get something from the match after losing their opening game to Brazil, put in a spirited fightback with ten minutes remaining as unanswered goals from Waturu Kitihara (31st), a second from Moroika (32nd) and Katsutoshi Henmi (35th) completed the remarkable comeback for Miguel Rodrigo's side.

"We were nervous and felt a lot of responsibility before this match," said the Japan coach.

"People in Japan were saying we could create history by winning this game or getting a draw. The way we played in the second half was the real Japan."

The point put Japan third in the Group C standings, three points behind Portugal going into the last round of Group C matches on Wednesday.

The Japanese need to defeat Libya, whose Round of 16 chances ended with a 13-0 loss to Brazil, and hope that the Portuguese end their group stage campaign with defeat to the reigning world champions.




Courtesy: The AFC.com


Thais undone by poor first-half

Monday, 05 November 2012

Bangkok: A spirited second-half fightback was not enough for Thailand to salvage at least a point from their second Group A encounter with the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup hosts going down 5-3 to Ukraine on Sunday.

Buoyed by a boisterous support at the at the Huamark Indoor Stadium and by the fact that a second victory following their opening win over Costa Rica would see them through to the Round of 16 the Thais started positively with Ukraine keeper Dmytro Lytvynenko deny Kritsada Wongkaeo and Jirawat Sornwichian – scorer of the Thais third goal in their 3-1 over the Central Americans – within the first minute.

But that was as good as it got for the Thais in the first period as the Europeans took control of the contest with five unanswered goals before the half-time hooter.

Denys Ovsiannikov capitalised on a goalkeeping error from Surapong Tompa in the fourth minute before Sergiy Cheporniuk put the exclamation mark on a swift Ukraine counter-attack to make it 2-0 three minutes later before a fine solo effort from Levegan Rogachov resulted in his side's third with 13 minutes on the clock.

With one minute of the first period remaining Maksym Pavlenko set up Rogachov for his second and Ukraine's fourth before Pavlenko made it 5-0 with just six seconds of the period to play.

With such a commanding lead Ukraine went down a couple of gears in the second period and this allowed the Thais a chance to get back into the game and the fightback started with Kritsada's free-kick four minutes after the interval.

Suphawut Thueanklang, who scored a joint-top seven times as Thailand finished runners-up to Japan at the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship, got his second of the World Cup following his effort against Costa Rica with a 35th minute free-kick before Jirawat also got his second in as many matches with Thailand's third in the final minute.

"I told my players that Ukraine are a very patient team and that we had to take the same approach but I know it was too much to ask of them," said Thailand coach Victor Hermans, player of the tournament at the inaugural FIFA Futsal World Cup in 1989.

"The first goal came from a mistake and when they kept scoring I feared the worst," continued the Dutchman.

"At half-time I asked them to try and score the first goal and we managed to do that. In the end, we ran out of time and were a bit unlucky."

Thailand round of their Group A campaign against bottom of the table Paraguay on Wednesday with a victory guaranteeing their place in the Round of 16.






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