Japan cruises to Futsal semifinals

Japan cruises to Futsal semifinals

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Japan had to put up a real fight to beat Uzbekistan 1-0 in the
quarterfinals of the Asian Indoor Soccer Championship at Bung
Karno Sports Hall here on Monday.

Earlier in the day Thailand and Iran, both named the
tournament's favorites, secured berths in the semifinals with
each dominating in their performance over their respective
opponents.

Thailand beat Iraq 5-2 with two goals coming from Nares
Sukngam, and one each from Pattaya Piemkum, Anupong Polasak and
Anucha Munjarern.

Iraq had consolation goals from Arkan Hamza and Waleed Jeel.

Vahid Shamsaee led an Iranian scoring spree by netting seven
goals in their 10-2 pounding of Kyrgyzstan. He has collected 21
goals to earn his title as the top scorer so far.

Mohammad Hashem Zadeh, Hamid Shandizi and Maged Raisi were the
other scorers for the winning team, while Mambetaliev Syrgak and
Tashimatov Daiyrbek netted the two goals for Kyrgyzstan.

Meanwhile, Japan had Takaaki Ichihara to thank for its win.
His goal in the twelfth minute of the first half was his team's
only goal against the Uzbeks.

The Japanese, under the coaching of Michito Harada, had to
endure blistering attacks, particularly in the second half, which
forced player Hisamitsu Kawahara to work hard during the game.

Uzbekistan managed to establish a flurry of scoring
opportunities with Bahodir Ahmedov and Nikolay Odushev coming
close to tying the score. During the daunting final minutes of
play, when the ball was in its possession, they opted for the
all-five attacking tactics with the goalkeeper resting.

They found a stumbling block in Kawahara. Hastily taken final
moves were also to blame for their failure to score.

Japan could have built on its lead two minutes into overtime
when it was awarded a penalty kick, but Takuya Suzumura kicked
the ball too high.

Asked why his team labored so hard in the match, coach Harada
said: "Before taking to the court, I had expected a tough game.
It apparently was."

Japan, which was a semifinalist four years ago in Kuala
Lumpur, meets Thailand in the semifinals on Tuesday.

The other match will pit champion Iran against South Korea,
which provided the golden goal to beat Kuwait 7-6 after conceding
three goals in the final seconds of play.

The Koreans led 6-3 when the game had 40 seconds to spare. But
the Kuwaitis were not about to lose the impetus and charged ahead
with three goals on the trot.

The game was extended an extra five minutes, during which the
Koreans proved to be the lucky side.