The matches for next year’s Asia Futsal Championship were yesterday decided in Taipei, with Taiwanese officials joining an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) delegation to draw 16 national teams into four groups for the preliminary round.
“We have worked hard to bring this important sports competition to Taiwan. The two main objectives are to put us on the international stage through soccer and to let the world know more about beautiful Taiwan,” Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) chairman Lin Yung-chen said.
“Second, by hosting this tournament we can gain more support from fans, as well as from the government and corporate sponsors, so that soccer will no longer be seen as a minority sport in Taiwan,” Lin said in his welcome address.
AFC director of competitions Shin Man Gil presided over the draw, in which Taiwan — qualifying automatically as hosts of the five-a-side indoor soccer tournament — were seeded at the top with Iran, Uzbekistan and Thailand.
Taiwan avoided main East Asian rivals Japan, South Korea and China, with the hosts in Group A with Vietnam, Malaysia and Bahrain.
Uzbekistan are to face tough competition from Japan, South Korea and Tajikistan, while Group C will see Iran face off with regional adversary Iraq, as well as China and Myanmar.
The draw gave Thailand an interesting mix in Group D with Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon and Jordan.
Over the past year, AFC officials have traveled to Taipei three times to assess match sites and training facilities, Shin said.
“[The] CTFA has done a good job preparing for the tournament. We have inspected the venues and are satisfied with the preparation work and the organizing efforts,” he said.
Leading Taiwan are newly appointed Brazilian head coach Adil Amarante and senior futsal star Chang Chien-ying.
It was a good draw for Taiwan, Amarante said, but added that “we must not underestimate Vietnam and Malaysia, as they are very good teams. We are also not as familiar with Bahrain’s futsal squad.”
“Our aim is to get past the preliminary round and get into the knockout stage, and advance into the final eight. We hope to go even further, but have to take it one game at a time and win against each of our opponents,” he said.
Chang, 35, who was a mainstay of the nation’s squad for many years and played in China, expressed the hope that younger players would take the lead.
“Actually, I have retired from the game and had been coaching a high-school team. CTFA officials persuaded me to come out of retirement for this tournament, but I am sure this will be my final hurrah,” Chang said.
He said he is happy that Taiwan avoided Japan in the group stage, adding: “Japan are always tough to beat, but Vietnam and Malaysia are also strong opponents.”
“We defeated Vietnam 2-1 in a recent encounter, but they had about 70 percent possession in that game,” he said. “I look forward to our team achieving a good outcome.”
The championship is to begin on Feb. 1 with four matches on the opening day. New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium is to serve as the main venue, with the gymnasium at the University of Taipei’s Tianmu campus as the other competition site.
Training grounds are to be provided at several other sites in Taipei and New Taipei City.
The finals and third-place match are to take place in Sinjhuang on Feb. 11.
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