Courtesy:
The AFC.comThailand 5-3 LebanonTuesday, 29 May 2012Dubai: Thailand maintained their 100% record in the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship after coming from 2-0 down to defeat Lebanon 5-3 and set up a semi-final showdown with Iran.
With a place in the 2012 FIFA World Cup at stake Lebanon raced to a two-goal lead thanks to a Kassem Kawsan double but goals from Jetsada Chudech, Suphawut Thueanklang and Apiwat Chaemcharoen saw the Thais go into the break with a 3-2 lead.
Nattavut Madyalan gave the Thais a two-goal cushion ten minutes into the second period and after Jirawat Sornwichan extended the Thais advantage with the fifth goal in the 36th minute, Ali El Homsi netted a late consolation for Lebanon.
Lebanon got off to a flying start when they took the lead with just 32 seconds at the Al Wasl Stadium played when an angled shot from skipper Khaled Takaji was blocked by his Thailand counterpart Surapong Tompa only to ricochet off the legs of Kassem Kawsan and into the Thai goal.
The ASEAN champions thought they had drawn level two minutes later when Suphawut Thueanklang's powerful shot was deflected into the Lebanese net by Jirawat Sornwichan who was positioned on the goalpost.
However, the ball clearly struck the hand of the 23-year-old and referee Scott Kidson rightly ruled out Jirawat's effort.
Kawsan doubled Lebanon's lead in the fourth minute after Ali El Homsi did well to poke the ball into his path from inside the goal area but the advantage lasted less than a minute with Jetsada Chudech slamming an unstoppable drive between two Lebanon players and past keeper Rabie El Kakhi.
El Kakhi was beaten for the second time with eight minutes played when Suphawut fired home the equaliser after being teed-up by Kritsada Wongkaeo before Apiwat Chaemcharoen kept his balance superbly to score Thailand's third in the dying seconds of the first period.
Thailand extended their lead nine minutes after the restart when Takaji failed to intercept Surapong's long throw which was superbly controlled by Jetsada and the Raj Navy Futsal club player cut the ball past El Kakhi allowing Nattavut Madyalan to score into an unguarded net.
Lebanon's World Cup dream was fading fast and was all but over when Nattavut's defence splitting pass released Jirawat who slotted the ball past the advancing El Kakhi with four minutes left to play.
El Homsi reduced the deficit with two minutes remaining but it proved to be just a consolation for Lebanon as the Thais advanced to set up a final four meeting with the defending champions.
Courtesy:
The AFC.comIran 6-3 UzbekistanTuesday, 29 May 2012Dubai: Iran stormed into the semifinals of the AFC Futsal Championship 2012 after beating last edition’s finalist Uzbekistan 6-3 in the quarterfinal played at the Al Shabab Club Stadium on Tuesday.
Iran’s entry to the semifinal also ensured their place in the FIFA Futsal World Cup to be played in Thailand later this year. In contrast, Uzbekistan are out of the race with Thailand beating Lebanon by 5-3 - lesser goal difference than Uzbekistan.
With the FIFA Futsal World Cup host Thailand booking a place in the semifinal, five Asian countries will get berth in the global showpiece and the fifth to be determined by the best fifth ranked team of this championship.
Hamid Ahmadi scored a brace including a fifth minute goal against the run of play to put early pressure on Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan were all over the place in the beginning as Ahmad Esmailpur scored the second goal in the 7th minute.
“It was a big game and my boys started nervously and specially going 3-0 down against a team as big as Iran, its next to impossible to come back into the match,” said Uzbekistan’s Spanish coach Pazos Mandez Jose Maria as Uzbekistan were trailing by 3-0 after Ali Ashghar Hassanzadeh scored deep into the first half.
Uzbekistan had their chances as well in the first half but they failed to convert those. They came out strongly in the second half as it took just a minute for the Uzbeks to reduce the deficit by 3-1 after Shuhrat Tojiboev scored early in the second half.
Iran did not offer any chance to Uzbek players to sense that they are back into the match by scoring their fourth just a minute after Tojiboev’s goal through Mohammed Taheri.
With captain Vahid Shamsaee, playing in the continental championship after missing out in 2010 in Uzbekistan, misfiring three golden opportunities, Uzbeks came adventurous and add one more goal in the 28th minute and the goalscorer was again Tojiboev.
“It was a good competitive match but we were on our guard,” Iran coach Ali Sanei said. “We had some anxious moment but still we controlled the match, scored a couple of early goals and never let Uzbekistan to bounce back,” he added.
Tayebi Hossain scored in the 32nd minute while Hamid added one more before Dilshod Rakhmatov scored in the 40th minute.
Iran will take on Thailand on tomorrow’s first semifinal at Al Wasl Stadium.
Courtesy:
The AFC.comJapan 1-0 Kyrgyzstan Wednesday, 30 May 2012Dubai: Japan coach Miguel Rodrigo's pre-match predictions of a 'tight' quarter-final with Kyrgyzstan were spot on as the 2006 champions scraped into the final-four of the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship with a 1-0 victory.
The opening exchanges were an evenly-fought affair until Japan broke the deadlock in the 12th minute when Rafael Henmi maintained his record of scoring in every game at the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship with a powerful long-range drive that the usually dependable Kiril Ermolov deflected into his own net
As it transpired it was the lapse in concentration from Ermolov, who had been singled out by Rodrigo as one of the best keeper at the tournament, the decided an extremely tense and cagey match that the Japanese dominated in terms of possession and chances.
Japan will now face Australia in Wednesday's semi-final after edging Kuwait 3-2 in extra-time of their quarter-final at the Al Shabab Stadium while defending champions Iran take on 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup hosts Thailand, whose victory over Lebanon opened the door for the Kuwaitis to qualify for the World Cup as the losing quarter-finalist with the best record.
Courtesy:
The AFC.comKuwait 2-3 AustraliaWednesday, 30 May 2012Dubai: Australia set a date against Japan in the semifinal of the AFC Futsal Championship following their epic 3-2 extra-time win over Kuwait on Tuesday at the Dubai’s Al Shabab Club Stadium.
With the win, Australia grabbed a berth in the upcoming FIFA Futsal World Cup Championship alongside with Kuwait, who finished as top-fifth ranked country in the Championship.
With Kyrgyzstan losing 1-0 to Japan, the final few minutes in Al Shabab Stadium was a confusing one with trailing Kuwait playing on their own half just to wait for the final whistle as both the side celebrated after the whistle.
Given the stakes from the match, the evenly-matched contest was a nail-biting affair with Kuwait coming from back on two occasions before Australia sealed the victory with Daniel Fogarty’s second of the match two minutes into the extra-time.
Earlier, Fogarty gave a great opening to Australia putting them 1-0 ahead as early as in the 3rd minute of the match. Kuwait’s in-form striker Shaker Almutairi brought the match at level in the 15th minute after good works from the flank by captain Salem Aman.
The see-saw battle continued as Australia restored the parity just one minutes after Shaker’s goal through a brilliant run from Ngaluafe Danny.
Despite trailing by a goal down, Kuwait hit back in the second half with a 28th minute strike from Hamad Alawadhi.
“It was a difficult game of futsal, we were coping against good players and mastermind professional coach who was playing all his cards and was success as they hit back twice in the match,” Australia coach Steven Knight said.
“Our players were tested by their continuous changes of tactics but we did what we were supposed to do, I am looking forward to face Iran in the final,” joked Knight adding that the match against Japan would be a tough test for them in Wednesday’s semifinal.
Kuwait coach Fonseca Cilleros also hailed his players’ effort but at the same time admired the Australian for playing exceptional futsal.
“They were brilliant opponent and physically very strong. First thirty minutes we matched them well but later our players wither and the reason was the stake the match had, you were talking about the World Cup so players at this level generally get nervous,” Cilleros said.
Posted by
Luca Ranocchiari -->
luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com
