Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: Japan Coach Miguel Rodrigo expects a better performance from the AFC Futsal Championship holders when they face Malaysia in their Group D tie on Saturday, after his side made a slow start to the defence of their continental title with a narrow 1-0 victory over Qatar.
“We looked good defensively in our first game but the players seemed a little bit tense, perhaps it was the nerves of the opening match but I’m sure we’ll be better against Malaysia,” he said.
“We know that sometimes teams will come to defend against us and we know Malaysia well from having played them so the key is that we need to be better in an attacking sense and I’m sure we will be.”
Malaysia, though, will look to bounce back at the Uzbekistan Stadium from an opening loss to Australia where they went to the break 1-0 up only to concede two goals early in the second half to fall to a 2-1 defeat.
“Japan are one of the best teams here and along with Iran they are the favourites to win the title, but they did a lot of pressing in the first match so it’s possible they may be a little bit tired,” said coach Marcelo Serpa.
“Regardless, we will do our best to make sure we are strong in both attack and defence to try and find the win that we need.”
The second of the day’s matches pits early Group D front-runners Australia and Qatar, who will be looking to build on what was an impressive performance despite the loss to Japan.
“We know we have different kinds of skills to some of the other teams and it’s impossible to win and play well with our skills but we just want to play to our potential,” said coach Tiago De Sousa.
“Even if people say we played well, it has to be about results and we simply cannot lose this game because we want to go to the quarterfinals.
“We need to create more chances but against Australia we can play a different style of game, we can press more because they don’t have the same quality as Japan.”
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A win for Australia would take the team to the brink of qualification for the knockout stage and their coach, Rob Varela, expects a new challenge when they face the Qatari side.
“They play a different style of game and they’re certainly bigger and stronger than Malaysia,” said the Futsalroos coach.
“They aren’t as quick but they’re skillful and they play a different system so we’ll have to adjust things tactically and make sure we are focused defensively.”
Photo: AFC