BANGKOK (26 March 2015) – There will be no ASEAN representation in the quarter-finals of the AFC Beach Soccer Championship 2015 when all three teams fell by the wayside in the final round of group matches.
Thailand simply had no answer to Iran when they fell to an 8-1 loss as Laos were overwhelmed 8-2 at the hands of Bahrain.
Vietnam fought hard but in the end had to be content with a 6-4 loss to Kuwait.
IRAN 8 – 1 THAILAND
Thailand’s hopes of a place in the 2015 AFC Beach Soccer Championship quarter-finals were comprehensively ended by Iran hammered the ASEAN side 8-1 to top three-team Group D ahead of Lebanon, who joined Asia’s top-ranked side in the last eight courtesy of their overtime win over the Thais on Tuesday.
Needing a victory to ensure a place in the quarter-finals, things started badly for the Thais who found themselves 4-0 at the end of the first period after early goals from goalkeeper Seyed Peyman Hosseini (3rd) and Farid Boulokbashi (4th) were supplemented in the eighth minute when both Hassan Abdollahi and Mohammad Ali Sadeghi got their names on the scoresheet.
Boulokbashi extended Iran’s lead in the 17th minute and after Mohammad Moradi Farahbadi scored the first of his double two minutes later Thailand finally got off the mark when Vitoon Tapinna found the net but it was all the Thais would get from the one-sided match as last year’s Asian beach soccer champions added another two goals through Farahbadi (33rd) and captain Ali Naderi Hosseinabadi (34th).
BAHRAIN 8 – 2 LAOS
A four-minute Ayoob Naseeb Salem hat-trick and two goals with two minutes remaining at the end of the third period saw Bahrain confirm their place in the quarter-finals of the 2015 AFC Beach Soccer Championship with an emphatic 8-2 victory over Laos.
Rashed Jamal broke the deadlock with the first of his brace in the fifth minute while team-mate Thani Salem Thani and Laos skipper Tona Bounmalay were on target in the ninth minute as the first period ended 2-1 in favour of Bahrain.
Opening scorer Rashed Jamal scored his second and Bahrain’s third in the 17th minute with the only goal of the second period before the floodgates opened in the final stanza as the Gulf Kingdom capitalised on a tiring Laos side, who were taking part in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers for the first time.
Ayoob Naseeb Salem effectively ended the match as a contest with three goals in a blistering four-minute spell (27th, 29th and 31st) before three different players got their names on the score sheet in the 34th minute, with Ebrahim Hasan Ali Naser and Abdulla Abduallatif Mohamed Al Abdulla on target for Bahrain and Vatsana Sisoulath grabbing a late consolation for the Laotians.
KUWAIT 6 – 4 VIETNAM
Ali Al Saif scored a goal in each period as Kuwait edged Vietnam 6-4 to finish their fruitless campaign third in the Group B standings and consign the ASEAN side to the foot of the table.
Al Saif struck in the eighth, 19th and 26th minutes to end the tournament with an impressive individual haul of six goals although Vietnam’s Bui Tran Tuan Anh staked his claim to emerge as the competition’s top scorer after he netted a hat-trick against the Kuwaitis (16th, 17th and 35th) to take his personal tally to eight following the five he scored in the opening match defeat to China.
Mohammad Bu-Abbas also got his name on the score sheet in the 14th minute either side of an Abdullatif Al Hamad double (10th and 23rd) with Tran Vinh Phong also on target for Vietnam, with his ninth minute strike cancelling out Al Saif’s opening goal.
QATAR 0-8 OMAN
JAPAN 5-0 CHINA
UZBEKISTAN 6-1 IRAQ
AFC Beach Soccer Championship 2015 – Quarter-finals
UZBEKISTAN v LEBANON
OMAN v CHINA
IRAN v UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
JAPAN v BAHRAIN
