Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Doha: The AFC Beach Soccer Championship quarter-final picture took shape on Wednesday when the curtain came down on the group stage, with Iran’s emphatic 8-1 win over Thailand opening the door of the last-eight to Lebanon.
Lebanon’s progress to the quarter-finals as Group D runners-up to defending champions Iran was one of the remaining issues to be resolved on Matchday 3 of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifying competition, along with Japan taking Group B top spot ahead of China, and Uzbekistan’s position as Group C winners ahead of the UAE.
IRAN 8 -1 THAILAND
Thailand’s hopes of a place in the 2015 AFC Beach Soccer Championship quarter-finals were comprehensively ended by Iran hammered the ASEAN side 8-1 to top three-team Group D ahead of Lebanon, who joined Asia’s top-ranked side in the last eight courtesy of their overtime win over the Thais on Tuesday.
Needing a victory to ensure a place in the quarter-finals, things started badly for the Thais who found themselves 4-0 at the end of the first period after early goals from goalkeeper Seyed Peyman Hosseini (3rd) and Farid Boulokbashi (4th) were supplemented in the eighth minute when both Hassan Abdollahi and Mohammad Ali Sadeghi got their names on the scoresheet.
Boulokbashi extended Iran’s lead in the 17th minute and after Mohammad Moradi Farahbadi scored the first of his double two minutes later Thailand finally got off the mark when Vitoon Tapinna found the net but it was all the Thais would get from the one-sided match as last year’s Asian beach soccer champions added another two goals through Farahbadi (33rd) and captain Ali Naderi Hosseinabadi (34th).
QATAR 0-8 OMAN
AFC Beach Soccer Championship 2015 hosts Qatar bowed out of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifying competition without a win following an 8-0 humbling at the hands of Group A table-toppers Oman.
Ahya Mabyoua Al Araimi opened the scoring in the eighth minute before Ghaith Abdullah Sebeit doubled Oman’s advantage with the first of his four-goal haul.
Sebeit, who scored two of Oman’s eight in their Matchday 2 victory over Laos, scored his first of the game in the last minute of the first period before netting his second and Oman’s third on the quarter-of-an-hour mark.
A minute later Abdulla Masoud Salim got his name on the score sheet before skipper Hani Al Dhabat kept up his goal-a-game ratio when the Oman 11-a-side legend found the net in the 26th minute to add to the goals he scored against Laos and Bahrain.
Yaqoob Rabia Al Alawi bagged his first of the tournament three minutes later but the final say would go to Sebeit who scored twice with two minutes left to go as Oman advanced to the quarter-finals with a 100% record.
JAPAN 5-0 CHINA
Japan stormed into the last eight with a 5-0 defeat of China that saw the Asian beach soccer powerhouse advance with a 100% record following victories over Kuwait and Vietnam but Marcelo Mendes’ side left it late to stamp their authority on the match, with three of their goals coming in the final three minutes.
Takuya Akaguma sent Japan on their way to their third successive Group B win when he opened the scoring after just two minutes before Takasuke Goto doubled the advantage three minutes into the second period to maintain his record of scoring in every group stage game.
China held out until the 33rd minute when Ozu Moreira matched Goto’s achievement of scoring in each game when the Japan skipper made it 3-0 in the 33rd minute before Goto put the gloss on the win with goals in the 34th and 36th minutes to round off the 5-0 win with his sixth of the campaign.
BAHRAIN 8-2 LAOS
A four-minute Ayoob Naseeb Salem hat-trick and two goals with two minutes remaining at the end of the third period saw Bahrain confirm their place in the quarter-finals of the 2015 AFC Beach Soccer Championship with an emphatic 8-2 victory over Laos.
Rashed Jamal broke the deadlock with the first of his brace in the fifth minute while team-mate Thani Salem Thani and Laos skipper Tona Bounmalay were on target in the ninth minute as the first period ended 2-1 in favour of Bahrain.
Opening scorer Rashed Jamal scored his second and Bahrain’s third in the 17th minute with the only goal of the second period before the floodgates opened in the final stanza as the Gulf Kingdom capitalised on a tiring Laos side, who were taking part in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for the first time.
Ayoob Naseeb Salem effectively ended the match as a contest with three goals in a blistering four-minute spell (27th, 29th and 31st) before three different players got their names on the score sheet in the 34th minute, with Ebrahim Hasan Ali Naser and Abdulla Abduallatif Mohamed Al Abdulla on target for Bahrain and Vatsana Sisoulath grabbing a late consolation for the Laotians.
KUWAIT 6-4 VIETNAM
Ali Al Saif scored a goal in each period as Kuwait edged Vietnam 6-4 to finish their fruitless campaign third in the Group B standings and consign the ASEAN side to the foot of the table.
Al Saif struck in the eighth, 19th and 26th minutes to end the tournament with an impressive individual haul of six goals although Vietnam’s Bui Tran Tuan Anh staked his claim to emerge as the competition’s top scorer after he netted a hat-trick against the Kuwaitis (16th, 17th and 35th) to take his personal tally to eight following the five he scored in the opening match defeat to China.
Mohammad Bu-Abbas also got his name on the score sheet in the 14th minute either side of an Abdullatif Al Hamad double (10th and 23rd) with Tran Vinh Phong also on target for Vietnam, with his ninth minute strike cancelling out Al Saif’s opening goal.
UZBEKISTAN 6-1 IRAQ
Uzbekistan booked their place in the quarter-finals of the AFC Beach Soccer Championship 2015 in style as the Central Asians scored three times in the first and second periods to sweep to a 6-1 victory over Iraq.
Wednesday’s triumph took the Uzbeks through to the last-eight of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifying competition as Group C winners following their 6-5 defeat of the UAE, who also progress as runners-up courtesy of the three points they picked up from their 7-5 victory over Iraq.
Feruz Fakhriddinov opened the scoring in the second minute before Jamoliddin Sharipov and Sarvar Kholmurodov got the first of their doubles with goals in the fourth and 11th minutes respectively.
Sharipov netted his second in the 15th minute before Kholmurodov did likewise a minute later and while Jafar Irismetov grabbed Uzbekistan’s sixth in the 22nd minute it was Iraq that would have the final say in the scoring stakes, with Hussein Jabar grabbing a consolation for the West Asians with three minutes of the game remaining.
Photo: beachsoccer.com
AFC Beach Soccer Championship 2015: Quarter-finals
UZBEKISTAN v LEBANON
OMAN v CHINA
IRAN v UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
JAPAN v BAHRAIN