This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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Iran international Ahmad Esmaeilpour scored a hat-trick as Sanaye Giti Pasand set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash against defending champions Nagoya Oceans with a 5-1 victory over hosts Yarmouk on Tuesday.
Giti Pasand won all their matches to top Group A where Al Rayyan managed to emerge second after holding Vietnam’s Thai Son Nam 2-2 elsewhere at the Al Arabi Stadium.
Hosts Yarmouk bowed out of the competition as they lost the first match 4-3 to Al Rayyan before succumbing to another defeat today with their only win of the competition coming against the rock-bottom Vietnamese on Monday.
Apart from Esmaeilpour’s hat-trick, Sajjad Bandi Saadi (pic) and Saeid Taghizadeh also notched a goal apiece for the Iranian champions while Brazilian export Thiago Gabriel grabbed a goal which turned out to be mere consolation for the hosts.
Yarmouk had themselves to blame in the match as Fawzi Almass missed from the point blank range and Giti Pasand went on counter attack and broke the deadlock in the 10th minute through Esmaeilpour.
Spurred by capacity local supporters at the Yarmouk Stadium, Yarmouk levelled the scores in the 22nd minute through Gabriel but that was the only cheering moment for their Brazilian coach Eder De Souza in the entire second half.
“I am saying it so many times, we play well but silly mistakes let us down and today was not an exception,” a visibly dejected Yarmouk 33-year-old coach De Souza told reporters after the match.
“Clubs representing Iran are big sides, you cannot make mistakes against them, at this level a single mistake could cost you the match like what happened today.
“But we had a good experience playing at this competition, the clubs from Kuwait should feature at this level regularly like those of Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Thailand,” he added.
De Souza’s Giti Pasand counterpart Alireza Afzal was full of praise for his players to play yet another attacking and attractive futsal.
“The first match of the competition was against a technically gifted and agile Thai Son Nam side and we were top over it, the second match had physical attributes in it against Al Rayyan and we emerge stronger and today it was against a home side with quality foreign players and experienced squad and we came unscathed,” he said.
“It’s good to win all the matches and top the group, it will enhance the character of the team,” he added.
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