Source: The-AFC.com

Nagoya Oceans coach Victor Acosta believes that the host club’s preparation is good enough to seal the AFC Club Futsal Championship title to become the only club winning it twice in the history of the championship.

The 4th edition of the prestigious AFC Club Futsal Championship starts on Tuesday with the host taking on Lebanese champions Al Sadaka in the fourth match of the day.

Nagoya, who were the champions in 2011, had a relatively difficult campaign by their standard in 2012 when they had to settle with third-placed finish. This time around coach Acosta, taking the vigil of the Asian club in the biggest stage for the first time, hopes to put the disappointment behind and impress the local supporters.

“It’s an honour to play a continental tournament here in Nagoya,” he said in the pre-tournament press conference.

“Though some players are new and don’t have enough experience, we have been trying to have a good preparation until today.

“All the participating teams are of course candidates for the championship so our main concentration at the moment is the first match but our first target is to make it into the semi-final and then we will see whether we can progress into the final and go on to win the title,” he added.

Nagoya’s opponents Al Sadaka were the surprise package in the qualifiers where they finished above star-studded Al Wasl of the UAE and qualified.

“You need different strategies against every opponent so it’s obvious that we are making good strategies so far,” Al Sadaka coach Hassan Deeb said.

“We had a couple of preparation matches before we came here so the team is in good condition and we are anticipating good competition but playing our first match against the hosts is not an easy task so we are looking forward to snatch at least a point tomorrow,” he said.

The other match of Group A on Tuesday is between Vietnam champions Thai Son Nam and ambitious Chinese club Shenzhen Nanling and coincidently Shenzen coach is Adil Amarante who guided Nagoya to their first continental title two years ago.

“I worked here in Nagoya for five years so it’s a special occasion for me to come back here and compete in a continental championship in Nagoya,” Amarante said.

“I want these players to learn the pressure you have to come across playing in a continental tournament. Of course, it’s not about experiencing the charm of continental futsal only but we are here to win our matches and go as far as we can,” he added.

It has been second finals for Thai Son Nam coach Sergio Gargelli and having failed to reach beyond the group stages, the Italian is expecting lot more in this campaign.

Gargelli can take the heart from the robust performance his team shown against Shenzhen during the qualifiers when they went down 4-2 against Shenzhen in the added extra time after a competitive 2-2 scoreline during the regulation time of the semi-final.

“Though there were few injury concerns, our team is in a very good physical condition at the moment,” he said.

“I guess Nagoya will have a home advantages and have chances of progressing through to the semi-finals but all other sides of Group A have equal chances of making it into the last four,” he added.

Group A Matches (Tuesday)

Shenzhen Nanling vs Thai Son Nam

Nagoya Oceans vs Al Sadaka





FP Staff --> info@futsalplanet.com