Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: Mehruboni Tillozoda’s last-minute equaliser saw Tajikistan claim a 3-3 draw with Chinese Taipei on Monday after a frenetic finish to the match at Universal Stadium featured three goals in the final four minutes.
But it was not enough of the Central Asians as Chinese Taipei claimed third place in Group C due to a superior goal difference.
Tajikistan led at the break thanks to Nekruz Alimakhmadov’s second-minute strike and after Chu Chia-Wei and Shavqat Halimov traded goals early in the second, Lin Chien-Hsun drew Chinese Taipei level with four minutes remaining.
Chang Chien-Ying’s 39th minute strike looked to have handed his side the winner only for Tillozoda (pictured right) to pop up with a 40th minute equalizer.
“In the first half I tried to make our defenders stifle Tajikistan’s attacks through sharp interceptions. We couldn’t execute that well but we were much better in the second half,” said Chinese Taipei coach Chen Yung-Sheng.
“But we have a difficulty with futsal in Chinese Taipei because we don’t have a league and it makes it difficult to develop young players.
“We have a lot of talented young players but we always make defensive mistakes and that is why when we return home we need to try and develop a good league.”
Tajikistan got off to a flying start with Mansur Mamedbabaev sending in a low cross from the right that was tucked home at the back post by Alimakhmadov after only 75 seconds had elapsed.
With an aggressive pressing game from Tajikistan seeing Chinese Taipei unable to maintain possession for any decent length of time it was the Central Asian nation that dominated most of the chances with Mukhammad Rakhmonov sending his effort wide to the right in the 5th minute and then Mamedbabaev forced Chiang Yung-Hsuan into a sharp save low to his right with five minutes remaining.
As the clock wound down towards the break Chinese Taipei produced their first genuine chance of the match with Chang Chien-Ying firing a low shot from the right and then the impressive Rakhmonov was left all alone from a corner but couldn’t direct his low shot on goal as the Tajiks went to the interval with their narrow lead intact.
Tajikistan opened the second half with a similar intent to that which they began the first, with Alimakhmadov pulling an early shot across the face of goal and Tillozoda seeing his powerful shot saved before, firmly against the run of play, Chinese Taipei struck back.
After a series of corners and kick-ins had been poorly dealt with, Chu Chia-wei was able to guide a shot past Firuz Bekmurodov from the centre of the court to make it 1-1 with 14 minutes remaining.
It took barely three minutes for Tajikistan to restore their lead as a fast break from deep within their own half saw Mamedbabaev slide a delightful pass to Halimov who tucked home at the back post.
Once again, though, Chinese Taipei found a way back into the match as Lin Chien-Hsun was left with far too much space on the right and powered an unstoppable shot past Bekmurodov to square things up with four minutes remaining.
Then, with less than two minutes to play, Chang Chien-Ying raced through the centre of the court as Tajikistan were pushing high up looking for a winner of their own and he guided his curling shot home from the right to hand Chinese Taipei what looked like a dramatic winner.
However, there was to be more late drama as Tajikistan launched a powerplay with barely sixty seconds remaining and after Chiang Yung-Hsuan had spilled a shot from the right Tillozoda was on hand to tuck home an equalizer right at the death.
“I gave some young players the chance today and I’m satisfied with the performance and the tournament as a whole,” said Tajikistan coach Husein Shodiev.
“However, we need more games to get better and improve our skills because today we showed a little bit of inexperience in key moments.”
Photo: AFC