Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Lumpur: AFC Director of Futsal, Ali Targholizade, believes that China's international experience is a key factor behind them finishing top of the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship, East Zone qualifying campaign.
The Chinese defeated fellow-qualifiers Korea Republic 5-3 after extra-time as the curtain came down on the six-team qualification competition at the Cheras Indoor Stadium on Friday with Targholizade pinpointing participation in international competition as well as highly developed futsal infrastructure as reasons for their success.
"China have taken part in the World Cup and have much more international experience than the other five East Zone countries," Targholizade told www.the-afc.com.
China have taken part in every AFC Futsal Championship since 2002, reaching the semi-finals of the last two tournaments, and participated in the three FIFA Futsal World Cups (1992, 1996 and 2008) and also have a well-developed domestic structure.
"The technical and tactical aspect of the game has improved a lot due to China's increasing experience and because they have a home and away National Futsal League in their country," continued the Iranian official.
The establishment of a strong league and continuing education through courses for coaches and referees are fundamentally important in boosting fustal stresses Targholizade and it is these elements that should be adopted by all Member Associations keen to develop.
One such MA would be Mongolia, who made their international futsal debut at the East Zone qualifiers.
Despite being at the other end of the futsal development spectrum to China, the Mongolians did themselves proud during their time in Kuala Lumpur and Targholizade believes they highlighted their potential in the two matches they played at the Cheras Indoor Stadium.
"In general, I believe that from what we saw of Mongolia from their start in international futsal we will see a lot more of them in further official competitions," he said.
"Large results are normal in futsal and there are more goals due to the very limited space so losing 5-1 to Korea Republic on their international debut was actually a very creditable result for Mongolia.
"They played very well, were very disciplined and respected fair play it was just their lack of international experience and perhaps the sensation of the occasion that led to the result.
"Mongolia performed much better in the 3-0 loss against Hong Kong than they did in the first match although they missed a few chances and conceded goals on individual mistakes," continued Targholizade, who was particularly impressed with the performances of Tsatsral Jargal, scorer of Mongolia's first-ever international futsal goal; skipper Bayasgalan Garidmagnai and Tserenjav Enkhjargal.