This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
Canada: 
Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
Defending champions Nagoya Oceans recovered from their first day loss to Ardus by booking a place in the semi-finals of the AFC Futsal Club Championship after defeating Lebanon’s All Sports Club 5-2 in their last Group B fixture on Tuesday.
With Ardus winning their match against Thai side GH Bank, Nagoya qualified as the group runners-up and await a potential semi-final clash against Iran’s Sanaye Giti Pasand, depending on the results of the Group A match between Giti Pasand and hosts Yarmouk SC later tonight.
All Sports, despite playing good futsal in all three matches, will go home early having seen one win, one draw and one defeat in the campaign.
Rafael Henmi and Tomoki Syshikawa fired two goals each for the Japanese champions while Japanese international Kenichiro Kogure netted his first goal of the tournament. Another Japanese playing for All Sports Bruno Katakeyama was the only All Sports player to score as their second goal came as an own goal.
Nagoya started with a cautious approach but they were soon rewarded with a 1-0 lead after Kogure released a perfect ball for Henmi in the 3rd minute.
“We knew that a draw would be enough to progress but the early goal jolted out strategy,” All Sports coach Dory Zhakour said after the match.
“We should hold our heads high for the performance we put on throughout the tournament as we were the best team in the group, which was by far a ‘group of death’.
“We managed to draw GH Bank, defeated Ardus who had beaten Oceans and also today the result did not go our way but we played good futsal,” Zhakour said.
All Sports goalkeeper Rabie Jamil, who was magnificent in first two matches, had a nightmare game as his blunder helped Oceans double the lead in the 17th minute when Jamil was left wrong footed allowing Kogure’s shot to travel inside his net.
“I don’t know what happened to him today, there were so many mistakes from him,” coach Zhakour summed up the goalie’s performance.
All Sports Japanese player Hatakeyama scored through a solo effort in the 25th minute to reduce the deficit by 2-1 but Oceans extended the lead just a minute after Hatakeyama’s goal.
Stubborn All Sports again found another goal through Oceans’ goalie Hisamitsu Kawahara’s own goal but afterwards the Japanese controlled the match and added two more goals to dash the hopes of the Lebanese champions.
“We had some injury concerns and a few players were not feeling well but despite those limitations, we played well and deservedly booked a place in the semi-final,” Oceans’ Portuguese coach Jose Amarante told reporters afterwards.
“Now we finished second and it seems as if we would face Iran’s Sanaye Giti Pasand in the semis, it would be a great game,” he said.
“Having a much-deserved rest day on Wednesday, I hope our injured players get ready for the semi-final,” he added.
Be the first to comment