Courtesy: The AFC.com


No time for complacency insists Ribeiro

Saturday, 06 March 2010

Esfahan: Al Sadd coach Fabiano Ribeiro is confident his players will not succumb to complacency as they bid for a third successive win at the AFC Futsal Club Championship against Port Authority of Thailand on Saturday.

The Qataris have been in dominant form at the tournament so far having seen off the challenges of Lebanese side Pro's Cafe in their opening game before comprehensively defeating NSW Thunder of Australia 11-3 on Friday.

The two victories leave them in a good position to secure one of the top two places in Group B and with it a place in the semi-finals.

Ribeiro believes one more win will be enough to see his side through and is certain his players will not let their performance drop in their remaining two games, starting with Port Authority.

“We have two tough games and we must win at least one but we must play 100% for every game," said Ribiero (pictured).

"We are in a good position in the table and had good scores from both games so far.

"We have already played the Thailand team before so we know that they are a tough side so I am not so worried we will be complacent.”

Port Authority showed a never-say-die attitude to snatch a late equaliser in a 3-3 draw with Lebanon's Pro's Cafe on Friday and they will need more of the same fighting spirit if they are to have a chance against an impressive Al Sadd side.

“It is a tough game and hopefully we will get lucky again,” said Udom Taveesuk.

“We have already played them in a friendly game so we know about them and hopefully we can have a good game against them.”

Pro's Cafe tackle Chinese side Wuhan Dilong in the group's other game with Rabih Abou Chaaya's side knowing they need to pick up three points to keep alive their hopes of reaching the last four.

“We have to win the two remaining games and depend on other results,” said Chaaya.

“We will do our best and that is all we can do.

“I don't think that it is that difficult to beat any team in this group. They are all the same level and we have to believe in ourselves that we can do anything.”

Wuhan impressed in their opening game with an industrious 4-3 win over NSW Thunder but coach Li Xin admitted he does not know what to expect from Pro's Cafe.

“We had to watch them on Friday because we do not know much about them, then we can make a decision on how to face our rivals,” he said.”




Courtesy: The AFC.com


Oceans’ Amarante already eying semis

Saturday, 06 March 2010

Esfahan: Nagoya Oceans coach Adil Amarante already has one eye on the semi-finals of the AFC Futsal Club Championship as they chase a second successive victory when they face AUB Altyn Tash Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan on Saturday to strengthen their bid for a top two finish in Group A.

The Japanese champions produced a dominant performance on Thursday to see off Uzbeks Stroitel Zarafshan 5-2 and get their campaign off to the ideal start.

After playing AUB, Nagoya's last group game - and arguably their most difficult - is against tournament hosts Foolad Mahan.

But Amarante feels Port Authority of Thailand are the danger side at the AFC Futsal Club Championship and is eager to avoid facing them in the last four.

“The match against Stroitel Zarafshan was very difficult because they are a strong side,” said the Portuguese coach.

“We organised ourselves very well to tackle this and created many chances and scored goals.

“We don't think about who can win this group just yet. We have our match against Tash Bishkek and then we play Foolad.

“Of course Foolad are very strong and have the home advantage and also have eight national team players and many supporters but we try to win all the matches regardless of who we play.

“If we finish runner up in this group then we might have to face the Thai team. They are god side and we would prefer to avoid playing them in the semi-finals so ideally we want to win Group A.”

AUB, meanwhile, will be keen to bounce back from their 8-1 opening game defeat to tournament hosts Foolad Mahan Sepahan on Friday.


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