Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Nagoya: Thailand’s Chonburi Bluewave produced a stunning comeback to lift the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2013 after beating the 2012 champions Sanaye Giti Pasand of Iran 4-1 in penalty shootout in an epic final played at the Ocean Arena on Sunday.
With the win, Chonburi became the first Thai side to lift the trophy and they also prevented Sanaye to become the first side to win the trophy twice.
Chonburi players Kritsada Wongkaeo, Suphawut Thueanklang, Jirawat Sornwichian and Nattavut Madyalan converted their penalties while Mohammed Taheri was the only player who sent the ball past 24-year old Chonburi’s Iranian goalie Esmaeil Abbasian Mehr.
Earlier, Hossein Tayabi continued his brilliant habit of scoring crucial goal by giving Sanaye a 1-0 lead in the 5th minute as it looked like to be enough for the Iranians, in-form Thai international Thueanklang notched a vital equaliser one minute from time to force the match into extra-time.
Pazos Mendez’s Chonburi are the only side in the tournament who remain unbeaten throughout.
“There’re no boundaries of our happiness tonight,” the Spaniard Mendez said after the match.
“First of all they are a finalist and defending champions so beating them to lift the title is a kind of icing on the cake.
“We have shown what Thai futsal can do in Asia. We were the deserved winner s as we never gave up until the end and always had the belief of comeback,” he added.
Sanaye coach Reza Aliabady conceded that fatigue was one of main concern why they did not kill the match before the penalty shootout.
“As expected, it was very difficult match and we had a tough match against Nagoya yesterday so players were a bit tired and which resulted on last minute equaliser.
“We practiced a lot on penalties but our dependable players also made mistakes but I must admit that Chonburi were strong and better team tonight,” he added.
Thueanklang, who scored five goals in the tournament, was adjudged the Abdullah Al Dabal Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Shenzhen Nanling were adjudged the ‘fair play’ side while Morioka Kaoru netted eight goals to walk away with tournament top scorer’s title.