Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Ho Chi Minh City: Unbeaten Kyrgyzstan boosted their hopes of a place in the quarter-finals of the AFC Futsal Championship after Rustam Ermekov scored twice to secure a 4-1 win over Korea Republic on Saturday at Ton Duc Thang University Stadium.
Ermekov scored in either half of the Group D contest to put Kyrgyzstan in a seemingly comfortable position only for Shin Jong-hoon to pull a goal back for Korea with just under nine minutes remaining.
But after Marat Duvanaev’s free-kick restored the two-goal advantage with just over three minutes remaining, Vadim Kondratkov sealed the win in the last minute as Kyrgyzstan added to Thursday’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Uzbekistan.
“I am very happy; we showed what we can do,” said Kyrgyzstan coach Rustam Isaev, who saw his side score twice inside the last three minutes to snatch a point against Uzbekistan.
“Playing in such a huge tournament is very difficult for the players, but after the 2-2 draw with Uzbekistan, the players were more confident.”
Both sides showed plenty of attacking intent from the first whistle, although it was Kyrgyzstan who enjoyed the better of the early chances with Tabaldiev denied by Korea goalkeeper Lee Kyung-ho after 10 minutes.
Kyrgyzstan goalkeeper Kirll Ermolov was also kept busy mainly dealing with over hit passes, although he was needed to save with his legs from Choi Kyung-jin after 12 minutes.
But it was Kyrgyzstan who opened the scoring just over three minutes before half-time as Duvanaev played a free-kick short to Ermekov, who side-footed the ball into the bottom corner through a crowded penalty area.
Kyrgyzstan goalkeeper Ermolov ensured his side maintained that lead at half-time as he first acrobatically turned a snap-shot from Lee Min-yong onto the post in the last minute of the first half before producing a point blank save to deny Park Ha-nul from the resulting corner.
And Kyrgyzstan doubled their lead seven minutes into the second half as Ermekov rounded off a quick exchanges of passes by beating Lee at his near post from the left side of the Korean penalty area.
Kyrgyzstan thought they had added a third with just under nine minutes remaining, but Ulan Ryskulov was adjudged to have fouled Lee before bundling the ball home from close range.
And Korea took full advantage less than a minute later as Shin rounded off a swift counterattack with a composed finish from the edge of the penalty area.
But with just under four minutes remaining Lee carried the ball outside of his penalty area, and with that bringing up Korea’s sixth foul of the half, Duvanaev was given a free shot at goal from the resulting set-piece and he made no mistake.
And with just over 10 seconds of the contest remaining, Kondratkov sealed the win with Korea pushing forward.
“It was what we were looking for after the last defeat as we were 100% focused from the first whistle,” said Korea coach Raul Gonzalez after seeing his side suffer a second loss of the campaign following Thursday’s 12-0 defeat by defending champions Japan.
“We hoped that the team could score first and we took risks. The players were able to mentally do that, but we could not score first and our opponent was able to.”