Courtesy: The AFC.com


Qatar quest for strong debut

Monday, 21 May 2012

Dubai: Qatar’s Spanish coach Abdel Benaim Laroussi believes that despite being the AFC Futsal Championship debutant, the Qatari futsal team is not going into the tournament as underdogs.

Qatar is trying its hand in the continental futsal for the first time in the 12th edition of AFC Futsal Championship starting in Dubai from Friday.

The gulf nation was the first to arrive in Dubai on May 9 and played some practice matches with local teams before facing hosts UAE on Friday which they lost 5-3.

“This was a friendly match and we needed to see the depth of our squad,” Abdel was quoted by Gulf News. “We made some mistakes and the UAE made us pay for these.

Abdel also quashed the idea of team going into the tournament proper with low confidence after the loss against the UAE at Sharjah Youth Centre.

"This is all part of the learning curve and we feel confident that the players will deliver when it is most needed," the Spaniard added. “We are making debut in this championship but our players have been playing in the domestic futsal league from last five years and the squad is a mix of youth and experience so I am confident they will make it as one of four qualifiers to the FIFA Futsal World Cup later this year in Thailand.”

Qatar have been pitted in strong Group C containing 10-time champions Iran, Australia and Korea Republic. They will start their campaign against Australia in the opening day’s action on May 25 followed by clashes against Iran and Korea Republic in subsequent days.

Qatar made it to the finals by being the winner of West Asian qualifiers where they scored 39 goals in six matches in their unbeaten campaign. They defeated Kuwait 3-2 in the final.




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