Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Isfahan: Hosts Tasisat Daryaei go head-to-head with defending champions Nagoya Oceans in the quarter-finals of the 2015 AFC Futsal Club Championship on Tuesday, with Iranian coach Amir Shamsaei confident his team can overcome the two-time winners.
No Iranian club has won the title since Giti Pasand Isfahan’s victory in 2012, but with veteran superstar Vahid Shamsaee in stellar form and the backing of the home crowd, Shamsaei is keeping his sights trained firmly on claiming the continental crown.
“At this level of the qualification it is a different kind of competition,” said Shamsaei, whose side have notched up 17 goals in their first two games. “With respect to the other teams, we know the Japanese are very high quality, they are at a high level in Asia.
“They have made a lot of improvements but we are trying to do our best to analyse this team. We know about the technical and tactical aspects of the Japanese team but as for the goal we have set, we are trying to win.
“We were expecting to meet the Japanese in the final, but we have no choice but to take on this game in the quarterfinal. If you want to be the champion, you have to beat all the teams and it doesn’t matter which team is in front of you. You have to win.”
Nagoya missed out on top spot in Group C following a surprise 2-2 draw with competition newcomers MFC Emgek, which saw the club from Kyrgyzstan topping the group to set up a meeting with Kuwait’s Qadsia SC in the last eight.
Victor Acosta, the Nagoya coach, is expecting a clash of two different styles when the teams meet on Tuesday evening.
“It will be a good game, the Iranian side is a good team and every player has good qualities,” said the Spaniard. “Most of the players from the Iran team are in the national team, but on the other hand our qualities are as a group. We will do our best. They have a chance to win, but we are able to win as well.
“Our idea was to play against the Iranian team in the final or the semi-final, but now we have to face them in the quarter-final. It’s a shame but we have to play them tomorrow.”
Spanish coaches Bruno Garcia and Enrique Martinez will go head-to-head when Thai Son Nam and Al Rayyan meet in the day’s first quarter-final, with the Vietnamese side advancing having seen off last year’s semi-finalists Shenzhen Nanling Tielang.
“We are Spanish coaches so the spirit is the same but we both have different situations,” said Thai Son Nam coach Garcia. “The Qatari players have more experience because their league is very strong.
“In Vietnam it’s the first edition of the league, so it’s a weak league and only lasts one month with eight teams. It’s growing, but it’s still weak. Qatar is stronger than us.
“The style is the same, Spanish style and there are more and more Spanish coaches in Asia and we are helping to develop the level. Maybe there will be a surprise for the stronger teams like we saw for Chonburi and Shenzhen because the level is growing and increasing and it’s good for this continent.”
Emgek, meanwhile, will meet Qadsia SC in the last eight in their first participation in the competition and the team’s progress has been greeted positively in Bishkek.
“This has been a success for Kyrgyzstan because it’s the first time we have reached the knockout stage,” said team manager Erzhan Musaev. “We have received a lot of messages of congratulations from everybody in Kyrgyzstan, but despite that our minds are only focused on this game.”
The remaining quarter-final will see Bank of Beirut take on Iraq’s NAFT Al Wasat, and Iraqi coach Haitham Abbas is confident his team can advance to the last four.
“Beirut has a very good team with good players and all of these players have had lots of experience and they are our brothers,” he said. “I want to say that we want to qualify for the semi-final and I hope we can get this goal.
“Our players weren’t good in the first game but in the second game we became used to the conditions in the stadium and the players gained more experience and they’re now ready for the next game.
“I'm so glad to come here and we’re happy to have qualified from the group stage to the quarter-final, but we hope to get to the semifinal and the final. Every coach wants to go to the semifinal and the final.”
Quarter-final 1
Thai Son Nam (Vietnam) v Al Rayyan SC (Qatar)
12:00hrs local time
Quarter-final 2
NAFT Al Wasat Club ( Iraq) v Bank of Beirut (Lebanon)
14:30hrs local time
Quarter-final 3
MFC Emgek (Kyrgyzstan) v Qadsia (Kuwait)
17:00hrs local time
Quarter-final 4
Tasisat Daryaei (Iran) v Nagoya Oceans (Japan)
19:30hrs local time