Courtesy:
The AFC.comAl Sadaka 6-2 Al SalmiyaTuesday, 23 April 2013Shah Alam: Lebanon champions Al Sadaka came from two-goal behind to defeat Al Salmiya of Kuwait 5-2 booking a place in the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2013 finals to be played in Nagoya in August.
In an important semi-final played at the Panasonic Sports Complex with the winner set to join the elites of Asian futsal in Nagoya, Al Salmiya stunned the Lebanese by scoring two early goals but the Lebanese fought back to enter into the finals.
“As I said earlier, we needed it (qualifications) very badly because we have been working for this tournament from quite a long time,” a visibly ecstatic Al Sadaka coach Hussein Dib told www.the-afc.com.
“We were stunned in the beginning after conceding two early goals but we dealt comfortably with the problem by closing the gaps.
“We knew this Kuwait side have limited options so they applied a ‘press’ and ‘press’ strategy in the beginning and were rewarded with two goals but we knew that we have the capability to score goals.
“Now after this qualification our next target is to continue our brilliant run in the tournament by winning the final tomorrow,” he added.
Al Salmiya’s Brazilian import Sidnei Mauricio Fernandes scored one and created one to Salem Almekaimi as they were 2-0 up inside first five minutes of the match.
But Sadaka brought the match at 2-2 level before the half time with Moustafa Serhan’s 15th minute and Serbian Predrag Rajic’s 17th minute goals.
The Lebanese were in total control in the second half where they added four more goals to make it look like a comfortable win.
“It was not a comfortable win at all but we had a better luxury of squad rotation than the Kuwaitis so we played the entire match with same energy,” the winning coach Dib said.
Serhan’s second in the match in the 29th minute put Sadaka in lead for the first time in the match and they added two more during the Powerplay opted by Salmiya’s Brazilian coach Paulo Cesar. Karim Abou Zeid scored Sadaka’s sixth with seconds remaining.
GoalsAl Sadaka: Moustafa Serhan 15', 29', Predrag Rajic 16', Yasser Salman 35', Hassan Chaito 39', Karim Zeid 40'
Al Salmiya: Salem Almekaimi 3', Sidnei Mauricio 4'
Courtesy:
The AFC.comAl Sadd 5-3 Al WaslTuesday, 23 April 2013Shah Alam: Qatar Champions Al Sadd joined Al Sadaka of Lebanon in the finals of the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2013 after defeating star-studded Al Wasl 5-3 in the semi-finals played at the Panasonic Sports Complex on Tuesday.
With their victory over Al Wasl, the 2010 runners-up will travel to Japan alongside with Chonburi Bluewave, Shenzhen Nanling, Thai Son Nam, Al Sadaka and league champions of Iran and Uzbekistan.
With both the sides paying much attention on their defensive play, chances were hard to come by in the beginning before Brazilian Patrick Vieira broke the ice in the 10th minute after utilizing a release from captain Amro Mohssein.
Two minutes later Mohssein, who had scored a hattrick against Al Salmiya on Sunday, found space through the legs of Al Wasl goalie Khaled Albelooshi to make it 2-0.
The half-time team talks did not do any favour to the Emiratis after Mohamed Ibrahim added Al Sadd’s third goal in the 22nd minute to virtually bag the match in their favour.
Al Wasl’s defence fall flat after they resorted on Power-play as Vieira notched his second after connecting an acute shot from his own half in the empty net.
Al Wasl staged a late fight back grabbing three goals making it a grandstand finish at the Panasonic Stadium. Jamil Abdulkarim, Salem Hezam and Abdulraouf Omar grabbed a goal each for Al Wasl but a late goal from Al Sadd goalkeeper Ahmad Khalil eased the pressures on the Qataris.
"Its our fault that we did not kill the match off earlier," said Al Sadd coach Eisa Mohammed. "When they resorted in the Power-play, they had advantage because our players were tired so we had to suffer nervy moment later.
"But its a good feeling that we achieved our goal and now the concentration would be tomorrow's match, we want to wrap things up in positive notes," he concluded.
GoalsAl Sadd: Amro Mohassin 11', 26', Patrick Vieira 9', Mohamed Ibrahim 22', Khalil Ahmad 39'
Al Wasl: Jamil Abdulkarim 32', Salem Hazem 33', Omar Abdulraouf 36'
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