Ardus FC Knocks Off Al Rayyan SC to Advance to AFC Futsal Club Championship Final

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Ardus’ Artur Yunusov came back from a long injury lay-off to score a vital semi-final goal as they set up a final clash against Iran’s Sanaye Giti Pasand with a convincing 3-1 win over Qatar’s Al Rayyan in the 3rd edition of the AFC Futsal Club Championship on Thursday.

Apart from Yunusov, Dilshod Irsaliev continued his brilliant form by scoring a goal in the 31st minute before Shuhrat Tojiboev wrapped up the match with one minute remaining. Saad Bilal scored the solitary goal for Al Rayyan.

Al Rayyan were defeated at the same stage in last year’s competition against Iran’s Shahid Mansouri and went on to lose again in the third-place play-off against Lebanon’s Al Sadaka. In contrast, this is the first time Friday’s finalists Ardus got past the group stage. 
 
Both sides had a good opening in the early period of the match but the goalkeepers kept those efforts at bay before Rayyan goalie Badi Johar Abdulla succumbed to a tricky shot from Yunusov.

The Uzbek league’s highest scorer got his first goal of the tournament in the 9th minute after coming from a horrendous injury that kept him out of the Uzbek national team that played in the AFC Futsal Championship in May.

Al Rayyan, who were defeated by Ardus in the qualifiers of this tournament 9-2, kept on fighting and finally got their equaliser in the 22nd minute when Japanese Akira Minamoto released an inch-perfect pass to Saad Bilal.

The Qatar league champions had the best chance to go ahead in the match but Ardus goalie Rustam Umarov blocked a  point-blank effort from Minamoto which turned out costly for Al Rayyan as Ardus hit back with a 31st minute lead from Irsaliev.

The Uzbek international collected a corner from Tojiboev and rounded off Rayyan goalie Abdullah to take his personal tally to seven goals.

Ardus virtually sealed the berth in the final after Tojiboev found the net in the 39th minute with Konstantin Svirodov providing a cross.

Ardus will take on Iranian champions Sanaye Giti Pasand in Friday’s final, while Al Rayyan will meet Japanese reigning champions Nagoya Oceans in an important third-place play-off as the winning country of the third place play-off gets an automatic berth in next year’s finals.