Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: Coach Francisco Araujo believes Lebanon must overcome Group A winners and tournament hosts Uzbekistan in Matchday Three to have any chance of advancing to the quarter-finals of the AFC Futsal Championship ahead of the sides’ final Group A clash at what is likely to be another sold out area on Sunday.
The West Asians have been in winning positions in their opening two matches only to see Kyrgyzstan and Saudi Arabia claw them back to claim 4-4 and 3-3 scorelines respectively.
And Araujo’s underdogs now face the daunting task of Uzbekistan, who have already qualified for the knockout stages, in front of a partisan capacity crowd at Uzbekistan Stadium in the knowledge that only a win will guarantee their progression to the quarter-finals for the sixth successive time.
“There is no other plan but to defeat Uzbekistan because if we don’t we will be out of the tournament,” said Araujo, whose side would also qualify for the last eight with a draw if the Kyrgyz and the Saudi sides play out a tie in Sunday’s other Group A encounter.
“In the last game [against Saudi Arabia] we didn’t make the right decisions; we will be looking to change this in the next match.”
The hosts, meanwhile, guaranteed their passage to the quarter-finals as group winners after Dilshod Rakhmatov’s brace help see off Central Asian rivals Kyrgyzstan 2-1 on Matchday Two to secure successive wins for Jose Maria Pazos’s side.
But with Kyrgyzstan and Saudi Arabia also still in the hunt to join the Uzbeks in the next round, the group remains finely balanced ahead of the final round of fixtures.
“We want to play to beat Lebanon because we have to respect the other two teams in the group,” said Pazos.
“Maybe the players who have a yellow card will not play as much as they normally would because of course I don’t want to lose important players for the next match.
“But we will go out to win and the players we have will give everything they have to do so.”
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Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan will take to the pitch at Universal Stadium looking to secure a first win of the continental campaign as they aim to wrap up the all-important second place in Group A.
After starting out with a 5-2 defeat to Uzbekistan, Aroan Nawaf’s second-half leveller against Lebanon secured a first point in the continental tournament for debutants Saudi Arabia.
And the Gulf nation will now look to build on an impressive start to their tournament and book a surprise spot in the last eight.
“We are improving game by game with experience, and now we will go and try to beat Kyrgyzstan,” said Saudi Arabia technical director Yves Heremans.
“We play against different styles every time; Lebanon had individual players, but Uzbekistan had a better team. We now must be ready for the final game.”
Opposite number Andrey Polkhovskiy, meanwhile, will be looking for his side to bounce back after a disappointing display against the hosts as they aim to book their first quarter-final berth since 2007.
“A lot depends on what happens in the Uzbekistan-Lebanon game but we want to make sure we get all three points against Saudi Arabia,” said Polkhovskiy.
“We have our training sessions to prepare well so we will try our best and see what happens.”
Photo: AFC