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The AFC.comFutsalroos face debutant QatarThursday, 24 May 2012Having Group C opponents in the ranks of 11-time AFC Futsal Champions Iran and Korea Republic, both Qatar and Australia had their reality checked during the pre-tournament preparation campaign.
Australia played two friendly matches with Thailand and lost both while Qatar also suffered 5-3 loss to hosts UAE just a week before the tournament.
Despite having similar fate in the tune-up, both the coaches are optimistic about their chances of progressing in the quarterfinal.
“Here in this group, the race is on for the second position behind Iran,” Qatar’s Spanish coach Abdel Benaim remarked.
“We have a very young and enthusiastic bunch of players who, on the given day, can beat any team participating in the competitions.
“We don’t know Australia and they also don’t know about us but what we know is they are a strong opponent and we are making a debut so there will be surprises in the cards.”
Qatar qualified for the finals after being the surprising champions of the West Zone by beating Kuwait 3-2 in the final.
Australia travelled early from home to face Thailand in two friendlies which they lost both just a week before the tournament.
“We had a very good preparation and obviously, like other teams in the tournament, our aim is to take Australia in the FIFA Futsal World Cup finals later this year in Thailand,” said Australia coach Steve Knight.
“I saw the number of times Qatar play and I know the Qatar Football Federation has spent a lot of money while preparing for the tournament.
“I think we can only control what we can control as we will go to the game with solid defence and will see how Qatar will attack and then with the progress of the match we will see how we can win the match.”
Australia will be missing the services of suspended James Gregory while Qatar will be without Amro Mohssein Abdelaal for the Australia as well as Iran matches.
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The AFC.comTsai presents case for the defenceThursday, 24 May 2012Dubai: Chinese Taipei coach Tsai Chia Feng accepts that has side may face backs-to-the-wall defending during their Group B campaign in the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship which starts on Friday against fellow outsiders Tajikistan.
With East Asia futsal powerhouse Japan and an ever-improving Lebanon making up the Group B quartet, Tsai (pictured) knows to expect an attacking onslaught in all three matches at the Al Wasl Stadium.
"Every team in our group is very strong and we will have three tough games," the 42-year-old, who was Chinese Taipei's assistant coach at the 2008 AFC Futsal Championship, said at Thursday's pre-tournament press conference.
"We know the first match will be difficult and we will focus on having a strong defence."
Chinese Taipei will be hoping for a better showing at the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship than at their previous three participations in the tournament having lost every game they played in 2010, 2008 and 2006.
The East Asians have shown occasional glimpses of promise since they made their tournament debut with a 7-3 win over Singapore in 2001, most notably in 2003 when they defeated Hong Kong (4-3) and Indonesia (6-4) to reach the quarter-finals for the only time in their history only to lose 7-0 to eventual runners-up Japan.
In 2005, in the 24-team competition in Vietnam they twice defeated Korea Republic (2-1 in the Preliminary Round then 4-3 in the Second Round) and also recorded wins over Qatar (10-2) and the Maldives (4-1).
But it has been downhill from there on, with the East Asians losing every subsequent game in the finals as well as failing to qualify in 2007.
And they only just made it this time around, edging Hong Kong 5-4 after extra-time of the third-place playoff of the East Zone qualifiers, having been beaten 7-3 by familiar foes Korea Republic in the decisive semi-final.
Like Chinese Taipei, Tajikistan can boast having reached the quarter-finals with the Central Asians squeezing into the last eight in 2007 following a 6-4 win over Hong Kong and a 2-2 draw with the Philippines to set up a quarter-final clash with neighbours Uzbekistan, which they lost 3-1.
And head coach Damir Kamaletdinov will be content if the Tajiks reached the same stage in Dubai.
"In Tajikistan futsal is still an amateur game and we do not have a lot of experience but our target is to qualify for the quarter-finals," admitted the 44-year-old, who is leading the Tajiks at the AFC Futsal Championship for a fifth time.
Chinese Taipei's match against Tajikistan kicks-off at 1430 local time and will be streamed live on www.the-afc.com
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The AFC.comChina not taking Indonesia lightlyThursday, 24 May 2012Dubai: China coach Guilherme Carvalho (Franco Da Silveira) will be without the services of suspended Wei Feng when they take on Indonesia in their opening match of AFC Futsal Championship at the Al Shabab Stadium on Friday.
Ahead of the tournament, the Brazilian is not taking anything for granted and see chances equal in Group D also containing three time finalists Uzbekistan and Kuwait.
“Anything can happen in this group and I don’t see any weak team here,” said Guilherme who is happy with the preparation China has done for the tournament.
“I am very happy with the preparations we have done, the players are really fit, fresh and ready to go. We know Indonesia very well and prepared for tomorrow’s match.”
China played four-nation tournament as the preparation at Hangzhou and successfully defeated Japan 3-2 which will certainly boost their confidence in Dubai.
On the other hand Indonesia did not play any international friendly but had a good match practice in Asean Futsal Championship where they finished third by beating Malaysia in the third-place play off. They started their training camp early in April.
“I think this is the strongest group,” said Indonesia coach Andri Irawan.
“We will be taking each match as it comes and against China it will be difficult but not impossible. Our aim is to successfully book a place in the quarterfinal and then we will see how far we can go.
Indonesia finished runners-up to Thailand and by virtue of beating Vietnam in the semifinal, they booked a ticket to Dubai.
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The AFC.comIran to show no mercyThursday, 24 May 2012Dubai: Korea Republic coach Lee Chang-hwan admits that compared to the football team the futsal team has not been bossing the continent and far off the pace with other bigwigs. However, Hwan is optimistic that his young team will have a tournament to remember in 2012 AFC Futsal Championship.
“We begin with a tie against Iran but we are not scared, we try to win and even if not, the match will give us a good account of ourselves,” he said.
Korea Republic arrived in Dubai one week before to acclimatize and had a couple of friendly matches against domestic rivals in Korea before coming to Dubai.
“Our preparations for the tournament have been excellent and we hope we book a place in the semifinal so that we feature in the FIFA Futsal World Cup later this year.”
While other team’s aim is to feature in the World Cup in Thailand, 10-time champions Iran has been making plans to win the World Cup itself as coach Ali Sanei terms this championship an ideal place to get the preparation right for the bigger mission.
“This championship has been scheduled at the right time, we would of course like to continue our dominance in Asia by winning this championship and later on try to conquer the world,” he said, admitting that the tournament will not be an easy walk for the defending champions.
“Every team will try to beat us and we have to be careful and make sure that there won’t be room for complacency,” he said.
As part of the preparation, Iran played in West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) championship which they won without losing a single match as well as Huanzhou four-nation tournament where they failed to beat Romania in the final.
The return of Iranian futsal legend Vahid Shamsaee after missing out 2010 championship will spur Iran who will be without the services of Masoud Daneshvar who was a last minute omission because of the back problem. Daneshvar had scored 11 goals in the 2010 AFC Futsal Championship in Uzbekistan.
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The AFC.comAraujo adamant Lebanon can surpriseThursday, 24 May 2012Dubai: Head coach Francisco Javier Fernandez Araujo has expressed his confidence that Lebanon have the artillery to compete with the big guns of Asian futsal and will show this when they open their 2012 AFC Futsal Championship campaign on Friday against continental giants Japan.
Lebanon reached the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship after Khaled Tajaki's 24th minute strike in the third-place playoff of the West Zone qualifiers gave the Lebanese a 1-0 victory over Iraq, who had earlier beaten them 4-1 in the Group Stage.
That defeat saw Lebanon finish runners-up in Group B behind the Iraqis and set up a semi-final with Group A winners Qatar, which they lost 5-2 after extra-time as Qatar maintained their 100% record in the qualifiers.
Despite the loss to teams that are significantly weaker than Japan, former Costa Rica coach Araujo (pictured) cut a confident figure ahead of the Group B meeting with the 2006 AFC Futsal Championship winners.
"Japan will be a tough team for us as we all know they are a strong team that has taken part regularly in the Asian Cup and World Cup and that they have professional players who play in one of the best futsal leagues in the world," said the 39-year-old, who has experience coaching clubs in Japan having been at the helm of StellAmigo Iwate Hanamaki in the F-League and The Sharks in the regional Kanto Futsal League.
"But I am confident that we can get a result against them.
"We have a good selection of players that I believe can compete for the championship.
"We are once again in the Asian Cup and we have reached the quarter-finals on a few occasions so our aim here is for the semi-finals and to qualify for the World Cup in Thailand."
Araujo goes into match against Japan, who are coached by fellow Spaniard Miguel Rodrigo, without the services of the suspended Ali Treich and Jean Koutany.
Lebanon's match against Japan kicks-off at 1200 local time and will be streamed live on www.the-afc.com
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The AFC.comIran not yet in Japan's thinkingThursday, 24 May 2012Dubai: As the only nation to win the AFC Futsal Championship it is not surprising that Japan are being singled out as the team most likely to stop Iran winning the tournament for the 11th time in 12 tournaments but head coach Miguel Rodrigo is refusing to look that far ahead.
Japan's success came in 2006 when they defeated hosts Uzbekistan 5-1 in the final having previously ended Iran's monopoly on the trophy by defeating the then seven-time back-to-back champions by an identical margin in the semi-final.
And while another final between the two in Dubai is a very real possibility, a sixth title-deciding match between Japan and Iran is not on Miguel's agenda, with the Spaniard (pictured) focussing fully on Friday's Group B opener against Lebanon.
"Iran is a great champion and for me they are one of the best teams in the world," he said at Thursday's pre-tournament press conference.
"If you take the top three of Brazil, Spain and Italy then Iran would be at the next level below these three teams.
"But we are not only thinking about Iran. There are a lot of good and competitive teams here at this Asian Cup and we have great respect for all our opponents.
"We will take this tournament step-by-step and each step will be a challenge. The first step is to make sure we get past the Group Stage so we are not thinking about Iran and we will focus on each game."
Japan's match against Lebanon kicks-off at 1200 local time and will be streamed live on www.the-afc.com
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The AFC.comCaravan ES courts strong ties with AFC FutsalFriday, 25 May 2012Dubai: Asia's finest exponents of futsal will strut their stuff at the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship on what is one of the most technically advanced court surfaces available thanks to the AFC's strategic partnership with Caravan Engineered Structures.
The Asian game's governing body recently entered into a two-year deal that sees Caravan ES become the Official Futsal Flooring of the AFC Futsal Championships" and "Official Futsal Flooring of the AFC Futsal Club Championship for 2012 and 2013.
And according to Caravan ES CEO Kwon Hyuck-chong the quality of the product his company is providing for the two AFC futsal tournaments can only help improve and enhance the five-a-side game in the continent.
"Our High-tech flooring system, which was newly developed and supplied to AFC, is specially designed to enable Futsal players to perform in comfortable environment as well as to enhance game performance," he said.
"With this new development, we believe that our flooring system will encourage prosperity and invigoration of the Futsal competitions in the long run and it will be a major step forward in establishment of infrastructure for popularization of Futsal.
"We are genuinely pleased to have this valuable opportunity to assist AFC and contribute to the development of Futsal as the official partner of the Sports Flooring System for the upcoming championships of 2012-2013."
Caravan ES' high-tech flooring will get its first competitive usage in AFC competition on Friday when the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship gets underway when 2006 champions Japan take on a confident Lebanon at the Al Wasl Indoor Stadium and Uzbekistan face Kuwait over at the Al Shabab arena.
Both matches kick-off at 1200 UAE time and will be streamed live on www.the-afc.com
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Luca Ranocchiari -->
luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com
