Bahrain to take on Japan for top honours

Dubai - Favourites Japan will meet Bahrain in the final of the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers being held at the Jumeirah Beach Park.

Japan edged out a fighting China 3-2 in extra-time, while Bahrain clawed back from a two-goal deficit to defeat Iran 7-2 in the two semifinals played yesterday.

Japan and Bahrain qualified for the 2006 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup finals to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in November this year.

The third qualifier from Asia will be known after today's play-off between China and Iran.

Entry for the public is free and spectators have been requested to enter from Gate No 5 of the Jumeirah Beach Park.

In the first semifinals, Bahrain were in arrears early in the first period with goals coming from Mohammad Ahmadzadeh and Ali Reza Rahimi.

But Bahrain settled down quickly and scored two quick goals through goalkeeper Sayed Mohammad and Hassan Sayed.

The Bahrainis took complete control after the equaliser with Adnan Abdullah marshalling the defence, while strikers Omar Esmail Abdullah and Mohammad Yousuf kept finding holes in the Iranian defence. Bahrain went ahead 3-2 by the end of the opening period and kept a firm control on the proceedings.

In the second period, Bahrain scored three times through Abdullah, Yousuf and Esa Saleh Ali to all but round off the match.

The third period saw just one goal, and that too came from the penalty spot from Mohammad Ahmad Mohammad to see Bahrain finish off 7-2. Bahrain's Brazilian coach Gustavo Henorikve was thrilled with the result. "We have achieved our objective of qualifying for the World Cup," Henorikve said.

"I have never lost a beach soccer final. And secondly, I believe that any team can be beaten. So now we will have to devise a plan on how to defeat Japan," he said.

The second semifinal rose to dizzy heights with Japan sealing a place in the final with a fine strike from Kawaharazuma Takeshi during the three-minute extra time.

Surprisingly China proved worthy opponents to Japan, who took the lead through Maruo Noriaki. China came right back for the equaliser in the second period through Feng Jian and Shi Zhong surprised all to give China a 2-1 lead.

However, Yoshi Katsuhiro equalised and Takeshi scored in extra time to help Japan enter the final.

Results: Bahrain bt Iran 7-2; Japan bt China 3-2 (extra-time).

Today's games (start at 4pm): China vs Iran; Bahrain vs Japan.