Japan yesterday shut out Bahrain to join reigning champions Iran in today’s semi-finals of the Asian Football Confederation Futsal Championship in Taipei, with Uzbekistan and Iraq also advancing.
The Samurai Warriors scored two goals and the defense held firm in the 2-0 victory, while Iran thrashed Thailand 9-1, Uzbekistan overcame a strong challenge by Vietnam 3-1 and Iraq prevailed in a penalty shoot-out over Lebanon in yesterday’s quarter-finals.
In the afternoon matches, 11-time title holders Iran dominated from the start against Thailand, but it was a tense affair between Iraq and Lebanon.
Iran’s starters dashed out of the gate to grab the opening goal inside 10 seconds, when Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh connected on a long pass inside the circle to Ahmed Esmaeilpour, who side-footed into the net.
That opened the floodgates for Iran, with Esmaeilpour scoring a second goal, followed by Hassanzadeh, and Hossein Tayebi increased the lead to 4-0 seven minutes into the first half at the Sinjhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City.
Tayebi completed a brace in the 17th minute with a quick shot at the top of the circle to extend Iran’s lead to 5-0 heading into the intermission, leaving a deflated Thailand unable to find answers against the devastating attack.
Iran did not let up in the second half, putting four more past Thailand goalkeeper Kanison Phooun, with Jirawat Sornwichian scoring a lone goal for Thailand to avoid a whitewash.
“We took advantage of Thailand’s mistakes to score quickly at the start, and we kept up the pace to get more goals. It was a good win for our team,” Iran head coach Mohammed Nazemasharieh said.
“We analyzed Thailand’s performance in this and other tournaments, and I told them to focus on the game and have better concentration. Thailand have been one of the best teams in Asia, and have been one of Iran’s rivals since 20 years ago, and we really respect them,” he said.
“We have a vision: it started in Colombia in 2016. We started with some new players and are aiming for the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup. We are not only representatives of Iran in that competition, but of Asia as well,” he added.
It was a very different story at the University of Taipei’s Tianmu campus, where fans saw a closely fought battle between Iraq and Lebanon.
By halftime, the match was even at 1-1 after a goal by Iraq ace Salim Faisal and the equalizer by Lebanon captain Kasem Kousam.
Lebanon then inched in front with a strike by Ali Tneich, only for Faisal to score his second goal to equalize at 2-2.
Unable to break the deadlock in extra-time, the match went to penalties.
The spot kicks were nerve-wracking for both sides, going to the 20th player, before Iraq goalkeeper Zaber Mahdi celebrated with teammates after his sliding block denied an attempt by Lebanon’s Mustafa Rhyem.
“This is a historic day for Iraq,” head coach Haitham Abbas said after the game. “We did concede some goals through some mistakes, but nevertheless, it’s a celebration day for Iraq at home and here among the players. We were all waiting for this moment, waiting to get into the semi-final and finally we did it.”
“You can see the development of the Iraqi team in the results of the national team and the club teams, it’s all thanks to the development done by the federation back home to help get this team to among the final four sides in Asia,” he added.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but