Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Taipei: Bahrain head coach Adel Marzooq says his side will not be lacking in confidence when they take on former champions Japan in their AFC Futsal Championship quarter-final match on Thursday.
The West Asians will be making their first appearance in the knockout phase after edging tournament hosts Chinese Taipei on goal difference to finish second in Group A, while Japan maintained a steady and determined campaign to win all three games to finish top of Group B.
Despite going up against the three-time AFC Futsal Championship winners, Marzooq revealed his players are undaunted by the challenge, adding that the match would display the progress Bahrain futsal had made.
www.the-afc.com/en/more/photo/bahrain-japan-coaches.html
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Taipei: After 24 matches in six days, the 16 teams have been trimmed down to eight. Tournament favourites and 11-time champions Islamic Republic of Iran lead the quarter-final line-up. the-AFC.com takes a look at the stats.
1 Japan are the only team from the East Zone to make the last eight. Vietnam, Thailand (ASEAN), Uzbekistan, Iran (South and Central) and Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon (West) complete the last eight cast.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Taipei: Japan will go into the AFC Futsal Championship 2018 quarter-finals as Group B winners after they maintained their 100 percent record following a 4-2 win over Group B runners-up Uzbekistan on Monday.
With both teams coming into the tie at the University of Taipei Gymnasium on the back of consecutive wins the action began in closely-fought fashion, before Uzbekistan opened the scoring within the third minute.
Farkhod Abdulmaylanov was found on the left by goalkeeper Rustam Umarov and the No 8 tricked his way past Rafael Henmi before curling the ball past Japan custodian Higor Pires into the far corner of the goal.
Koichi Saito went close to a swift reply with long range rocket that rattled Umarov’s left-hand upright and, with a little over 10 minutes of the first half remaining, Ryosuke Nishitani was inches away from sliding home Kaoru Morioka’s low cross, before Kazuya Shimizu also hit the woodwork with a flick from close range.
Japan, though, needed less than a minute of the restart to draw parity as Morioka slammed home his sixth goal of the tournament from the edge of the area after Dilshod Rakhmatov was penalised for a back-pass.
And another set-piece saw Japan take the lead three minutes later as Shota Hoshi turned in Shimizu’s ball into the box.
Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Taipei: An extraordinary last-gasp goal from captain Mohamed Al Sandi helped secure Bahrain a historic AFC Futsal Championship quarter-final place after they defeated Malaysia 3-1 to take the runners-up place on goal difference in Group A on Monday.
Having only won just one match in their entire AFC Futsal Championship history, Bahrain – playing in just their second edition of the tournament – will now take part in Thursday’s last eight along with Group A winners Vietnam, with their opponents on the night, and hosts Chinese Taipei missing out.
All four sides from Group A had a chance to qualify for the knockout stages ahead of Monday’s ties, but Bahrain put themselves in the driving seat at University of Taipei Gymnasium after taking the lead inside the opening three minutes, as Ahmed Abdulnabi back-flicked in an acrobatic volley from Mohamed Al Sandi’s headed cross from the left.
And the same player repeated the trick to double the advantage, latching onto a long, high ball forward from the back to direct an angled drive across Firdaus Razli into the opposite corner.
Needing at least a point to remain in the quarter-finals reckoning, Malaysia responded but Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Mohamed remained resolute as the score remained 2-0 at the interval.
The Southeast Asians cranked up the pressure on Mohamed’s goal after the restart and Yazid Kamaruzuan hit the base of the Bahrain upright four minutes into the second half.