Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuwait City: Ardus coach Alexander Petrov has hailed his side’s effort and commitment to make it to the final of the ongoing AFC Futsal Club Championship as Ardus are one match away from the biggest club futsal honour in the continent.
Ardus defeated Al Rayyan 3-1 to set up a title clash with Iranian champions Sanaye Giti Pasand as previously they had failed to reach the knockout stages of the competition.
“In 2011, we were still a good side and we played well enough but had some unfortunate moments and failed to progress,” the Uzbek coach, who has been coaching Ardus for more than two years, said.
“We were desperate to do better in this competition and so far the players have not let me down, they deserve more from this tournament,” he said.
Ardus qualified as an all-conquering side from Zone One of the qualification, where they toppled their semi-final opponents Al Rayyan 9-2 to emerge top of the group and qualify for the tournament proper.
“Today it was not easy to beat Rayyan at all, they gave us a good chase as at one stage the match could have gone either way.
“I also need to mention about my players’ valiant effort today as they were so keen not to slip up at this stage of the competition. Special praises go to Artur Yusunov, who for me is the top Uzbekistan player.
“I am so happy for Artur, he had a horrendous injury during the qualifiers which kept him out of the Uzbekistan national team during the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship. He came back from injury and despite playing well, which he consistently does, he was not amongst the goals. He badly needed a goal and today he scored and hopefully tomorrow he will score more.”