Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: Kyrgyzstan coach Andrey Polkhovskiy has declared his side has a ‘special plan’ to deal with the threat of Australia in Friday’s FIFA Futsal World Cup play-off match after his side stunned Japan to reach the final six at the AFC Futsal Championship.
After losing to Vietnam yesterday Japan had been expected to bounce back but it was the central Asian nation who were the stronger throughout.
The challenge now is a one-off match against Australia to book a ticket to what would be the nation’s first ever FIFA Futsal World Cup.
“We started very strong and the players followed the plan and tactics we had laid down so everything was going well. At halftime I told the players just to remain calm as Japan was having problems defensively and we exploited those issues very well,” said Polkhovskiy, pictured celebrating his side’s 6-2 victory over 2014 AFC Futsal Championship winners Japan.
“The match against Australia will be difficult of course but we have a new tactic that we have been saving that we haven’t used yet.
“Except for Iran, who are from a different planet, we know we can beat every nation at this tournament and even if my players are tired they know they are just 40 minutes away from the World Cup. So with our new tactics and strong motivation I’m confident we’ll do well.”
Japan’s back-to-back losses were easily the biggest upsets of the tournament and it’s also the first time in the history of the AFC Futsal Championship that they have failed to finish in the top four.
Long-serving coach Miguel Rodrigo admitted the squad was ‘devastated’ and indicated that it’s likely he’s coached his final match at the helm of the national team.
“Under the terms of my contract, it’s now finished and after the match I made a point of thanking the players for their efforts. I told them to keep their heads high and that possibly this was our last match together and that I wanted to remember what we have achieved over the past four years," said Rodrigo.
“A decent leader of a team has to assume responsibility for what happened and the result showed what I have to do.
“Everything went contrary to how we expected, the details and the situations within the game and after we lost two early goals we were mentally destroyed.
“Even if we put a large football goal out there we may not have scored.”
Photo: AFC