Courtesy: The AFC.com


New national players beef up Nagoya Oceans squad

Saturday, 15 June 2013

Kuala Lumpur: Nagoya Oceans President Yoshihito Sakurai is confident his club will be up to the challenge in their tough AFC Futsal Club Championship 2013 group outings this August with newly signed players with national experience beefing up the squad.

The 2011 winners were drawn into Group A alongside Shenzen Nanling Tielang of China, Vietnam’s Thai Son Nam and Al Sadaka from Lebanon during an official draw in the Malaysian capital on Friday.

Due to the draw mechanics, the AFC Futsal Team of the Year 2011 were drawn into a different group from that of reigning champions Sanaye Giti Pasand of Iran, who defeated them 6-3 in the semi-finals last year

The Iranian side were placed in Group B whose other members are Chonburi Bluewave of Thailand, Qatari side Al Sadd and Uzbekistan’s Ardus.

Apart from the national players strengthening the squad, Oceans also have the advantage of home turf as they are hosting the eight-team competition.

“I’m sure our squad this year will be ever stronger after our new sign-ups. We have signed young Japan national players Ryuta Hoshi, Yuki Murota and Hidekazu Shirakata,” Sakurai (pictured) told The-AFC.com.

“We also have a good advantage as the hosts and for sure our formidable fans will be coming in droves.

“I have to admit that we were a bit nervous in our past shows but this time round, we have our supporter power behind us.”

Sakurai believes his club’s group is quite strong and he is quite anxious about the prospect of facing the tough sides who all finished in the top positions in their respective recent qualifiers.

Both Al Sadaka and Shenzen finished in second position in their Zone 1 and Zone 2 Qualifiers respectively in April in Malaysia while Thai Son Nam finished in third spot behind Shenzen.

“The teams we are pitted against in Group A are very strong having just recently finished top in their groups and I’m quite anxious to see this draw result,” he said.

“However we will do our best to win and we have our new tactics and of course new players to beef up the squad to achieve this goal.”

Oceans will kick off their campaign against Al Sadaka on Match Day 1 on August 27. The continent’s premier futsal competition will run until September 1.






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