Courtesy: Gulf Daily News


Futsal team face tough challenge

By Patrick Salomon

Thursday, July 23, 2009

BAHRAIN were yesterday drawn in a tough four-team group for their debut international futsal tournament, to be played in October in Doha. The nationals are set to face the likes of powerhouses Lebanon, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in group 'A' of the West Asia Futsal Championship, which will act as a qualifying tournament for Asian Championship which will be held in Tashkent in 2010.

Group 'B' features Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan.

The regional competition will take place at Al Rayyan Sports Club in Doha between October 13 and 18, and only the top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals.

The champions, runners-up, and third-placers make it through to the Asian Futsal Championship.

"We have a very difficult task ahead of us," Bahrain's national futsal team head coach Gustavo Zloccowick of Brazil told the GDN last night.

"Lebanon and Qatar are among the best teams in Asia. The Lebanese, their futsal team are ranked high in the continent, while Qatar is an emerging power. They have had a very good national futsal league for a year-and-a-half now, so they have had a good chance to prepare their players. They also have five Brazilian coaches for their national team, so they have experience.

"If we were in group 'B', it would have been easier to get into the semi-finals and play for a spot in the top three. But this is the draw and we must fight."

The groupings were determined yesterday at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur. The draw for the three other qualifying tournaments for Asia's other regions were also completed, including for East Asia, the Asean, and the South and Central zones.

In the West Asian competition, Lebanon are the top seeds as they currently hold eighth in the continental rankings. Qatar are 19th. Both the Bahrainis and the Saudis are not classified to date.

Zloccowick, who is famous worldwide for having guided Bahrain to the Asian title on their debut participation in beach soccer and then making a quarter-final appearance at the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup in 2006, said it is possible to do the same with the kingdom's futsal team.

"We never know, we made a surprise in beach soccer when nobody knew who we were, and I believe we can do the same with futsal," Zloccowick said.

"We must try hard in every game we play, and focus on finishing in the top three. Anything can happen in the tournament and right now we must just focus on preparing ourselves."

Bahrain's futsal squad is currently composed of a training pool featuring 35 players. Zloccowick is scheduled to begin practices with them at the Gulf Finance House sports hall in Um Al Hassam this weekend.

Of the current group, he plans to feature around 25 on the team that will compete in Doha. Prior to that event, the Bahrainis will play a friendly tournament in Jordan as part of their preparations for West Asia.

The top three teams from each of the four qualification groups will advance to the AFC Futsal Championship, along with four nations who have already pre-qualified. The squads that are already in are Iran, Thailand, Japan, and hosts Uzbekistan.

The Iranians, Thais and Japanese have booked their seats based on their top three rankings from last year's tournament, while the Uzbeks are in automatically as hosts.








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