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| AFC Futsal Championship |
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| Emotional Farinha ‘lost for words’ |
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| Head coach Farinha was lost for words as China stunned Uzbekistan 4-1 to reach the semi-finals. |
BANGKOK - An emotional Farinha admitted he was lost for words after seeing China pull off a 4-1 victory over Uzbekistan at Hua Mark Stadium to set-up a clash with Thailand in the semi-finals of the AFC Futsal Championships.
Liu Xinyi put China in front just before half-time and Wu Zhuoxi doubled the advantage and although Hurshid Tajibaev briefly gave Uzbekistan hope, further goals from Li Xin and Liang Shuang sent them into the last four, where they will meet the hosts after their 5-2 triumph over Australia.
The result means they also secured a place in the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil later in the year, an achievement that left Farinha almost speechless.
"We've just qualified for the World Cup, it's difficult to say anything especially having beaten a big team like Uzbekistan," he said.
"I knew this game would be a very, very difficult game because the opponent was very strong but it's difficult to say things now.
"I just want to thank all the players because they have worked very hard twice a day for four months in a row and in the beginning they didn't believe me that they could do it.
"Little-by-little they started to believe and I think all of them are wonderful players and they really did a good job. For us it's unbelievable, it's a dream, so it's difficult to say more than that.
"Uzbekistan are a wonderful team and they have lots of options but my team is based on team-work. We don't have one star that can decide a game like perhaps other teams," he added.
"Team-work is what makes the difference in my team, I believe, and China did very well because of that. I will not pick out one name because there's no player like that."
Farinha's joy was in stark contrast to the mood of Uzbekistan coach Alexander Petrov.
When asked what was the most disappointing aspect of his team's performance,
Petrov replied: "Discipline.
"We expected to go to the World Championship. We've been in the semi-finals in the last four championships so of course we expected to go to the semi-finals.
But we didn't play as well as China did."
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