Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Hangzhou: China gained confidence ahead of the AFC Futsal Championship with a 3-2 victory over Japan in a four-nation tournament in Hangzhou last week.
Hosts China, Japan, Asian champions Iran and Romania took part in the tournament and China made full use of the preparatory tournament beating fancies Japan.
Romania defeated Iran and China to clinch the title with seven points from three matches while Iran finished second losing out only to Romania and holding Japan 2-2.
China did relatively well by conceding only three goals to Iran and losing to Romania 3-2 in a thrilling encounter.
'It won't be an easy job. Every match is important for us, especially our first encounter with Indonesia in the group stage will be vital,” China’s Brazilian coach Farinha was quoted by Xinhua News Agency.
“The gap between Asian teams has been reduced significantly over the years and we need to be very careful because Indonesians have improved a lot.”
China is pitted in Group D alongside three-time finalists Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Indonesia. They will take on Indonesia on May 25 followed by the tie against Uzbekistan and Kuwait on subsequent days.
Coach Farinha, however, is in no mood to take on Iran in the quarter-finals as anything beyond quarter-final ensures a berth in the FIFA Futsal World Championship to be held in November in Thailand.
“The most important match will be definitely our second match against Uzbekistan and we need to win this as the winner of this match will most likely advance as group winner to the quarter-finals and avoid Group C potential winners and ever-dominant Iranians."
China have set up a 40-day training camp to prepare for the AFC Futsal Championship and will leave for Dubai on May 20.