Courtesy: Football Asia.com

Iran to meet Japan again in futsal final

MACAU - Reigning Asian futsal kingpins Iran will attempt to win their sixth consecutive continental crown when they take on Japan in the final of the World Futsal Championship 2004 - Asian Qualifiers at the Pavilhae Polidesportivo Stadium on Sunday.

The two teams face off in the final of the competition, which doubles up as the AFC Futsal Championship, after semi-final victories on Saturday as Japan downed Uzbekistan 4-2, while Iran romped past Thailand 6-1.

The semi-final wins also earned Japan and Iran two of the three slots reserved for Asian teams at the FIFA World Futsal Championship 2004, to be played in Chinese Taipei later this year. The remaining spot will go to the winner of the third place playoff between Thailand and Uzbekistan.

Having lost in the final of the last two editions of the AFC Futsal Championship, Japan will get yet another crack at the Iranians after outlasting Uzbekistan in the last four.

Daisuke Ono set Japan on their way with the opening goal after seven minutes and Kenta Fujii added another three minutes later to make it 2-0 at the break.

Kenichiro Kogure scored Japan's third early in the second half, but Dilshod Doniyarov gave the Uzbeks some hope by firing in a 10-metre penalty with 12 minutes remaining.

The Uzbeks came from 4-1 down to defeat Korea Republic 6-5 in the quarter-finals but there was to be no dramatic comeback this time around as Kogure settled matters by netting his second to make it 4-1 to the Japanese with two minutes remaining. Nikolay Odushev's late goal was merely a consolation for Uzbekistan.

Iran had few problems as they scored their 37th straight win in the AFC Futsal Championship with a straightforward win over Thailand.

Iranian futsal ace Vahid Shamsaee opened the scoring after seven minutes, and skipper Mohammed Reza Heidarian and Mohsen Zairi added further goals to make it 3-0 at half time.

In the second half, Shamsaee scored his second while Siamak Dadashi and Babak Masami also added a goal each. Panuwat Janta score Thailand's lone consolation goal.

World Futsal Championship 2004 - Asian Qualifiers
Semi-final results
Japan 4 Uzbekistan 2
Iran 6 Thailand 1