In the first round of the Futsal Asian Cup qualifiers that just ended, the match between China and Thailand was the center of attention. As a result, the Chinese team suffered a 1-5 defeat, a score that mirrored the performance of the national soccer team 10 years ago.
It is worth noting that the tournament was held in Thailand, and as the hosts, the Thai team's victory naturally attracted a lot of attention. Although China lost, it did not affect the trend of the table. Two West Asian teams, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, also participated in the competition. In comparison, the development of futsal in West Asia seems to be lagging behind that of other regions.
A total of 31 teams competed in this year's tournament, divided into eight groups. Of these, the second place finishers in Groups 1 and 7 will advance directly, while the results of the last group will not be taken into account. Prior to the tournament, Turkmenistan retired from the tournament in the same group as the Five-a-Side National Football Team. China's five-a-side national football team lost 1-5 against Thailand, but the score was not counted because Thailand was the host.
The AFC then announced an adjustment to the rules that will see the five-man national football team play two rounds of matches against Hong Kong, China, to determine the final ranking of the group. With a win in the tournament, the five-man national football team is expected to advance to the final round.
This round of matches was a cold one. Among them, the 2-3 score between Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan was the most notable. Saudi Arabia scored first, but Afghanistan then scored three goals in a row. In the final moments of the match, Abdullah Mohammad Alakili scored a redeeming goal for Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan progressed to the final round of the tournament on the back of this victory, while Lebanon, the West Asian futsal leaders, were beaten by Kyrgyzstan.
In another marquee match, Japan successfully defended their title by defeating Australia by a score of 4-0. The Japanese team is centered on naturalized players, and captain Oliveira scored a hat-trick in the match to lead his team to victory. Australia, on the other hand, finished at the bottom of the table.
Group A: China 1-5 Thailand; despite the standings, matches in this group have not yet officially begun as Thailand's results are not counted.
Group B: Indonesia 12-0 Macao, China; Afghanistan 3-2 Saudi Arabia; Macao, China is weak and is at the bottom of the table in almost every game. Afghanistan scored 3 points, basically locking up the qualifying spot. Indonesia and Saudi Arabia will fight for another place in the final round.
Group C: Iran 18-2 Maldives; Lebanon 3-4 Kyrgyzstan; Lebanon will face Iran, the strongest team in the Central Asian region, in their next match, with little hope of advancing. Last year, five teams advanced to the finals of the West Asian five-man soccer tournament, and this year there may only be one or two teams that advance.
Group D: Mongolia Vietnam 6-1; Nepal Korea 5-1;
Group E: Tajikistan 6-3 India, Palestine 1-2 Myanmar; Tajikistan is the most improved team in Asia in both the 11-a-side and 5-a-side formats. Before the tournament, no one expected two countries with a population of over 1.4 billion to be at the bottom of the group.
Group F: Kuwait 4-2 Brunei; Bahrain 1-0 Timor-Leste; Bahrain is active in futsal, but men's soccer has not improved significantly. The five-a-side women's soccer team finished third, beating the Chinese five-a-side women's soccer team in the Japan Invitational Tournament in September.
Group G: Cambodia Uzbekistan 6-1; Malaysia Iraq 2-1;
Group H: Australia, Japan 4-0.
PS: I appreciate the hard work of the old Lakeland fans, and I hope that all readers will follow the old Lakeland fans and give full credit to the work.
