AFC - Defending champions Sanaye Giti Pasand will start their title defence against ever improving Al Sadd of Qatar on Tuesday knowing that no team has won the coveted title more than one time in the tournament’s history.

Apart from Al Sadd, Sanaye also have the challenges of their opponents in the 2012 final Ardus of Uzbekistan and Thai powerhouse Chonburi Bluewave in Group B and Sanaye coach Reza Aliabady is concentrating on his own preparations rather than banking on the opponents’.

“We are ready,” Aliabady announced. “We are not resting on our previous laurels as we have been trying to improve our performance,” he said.

“We will definitely respect the spirit of ‘fair play’ and at the same time showcase exciting futsal and on the top of that will definitely seek to progress into the semis and grab the trophy,” he declared during the pre-tournament press conference.

Chonburi Bluewave coach Pazos Mendez had a stint in Uzbekistan national team and the Spaniard had all conquering qualifiers back in April but he is well aware of the qualities of the finalists.

“This is very difficult group where you have a defending champions as well as runners-up so our prime focus is to get through the group stages,” he said.

Mendez also conceded about his side’s injury crisis but declared that the team is eager to go in the pitch with full confidence.

“Even though some of my key players are injured, we are all very motivated ahead of this tournament. We will do our best and I hope we will get good results,” he said.

Going into the tournament Al Sadd had an ideal preparation after they notched couple of great wins in the recently concluded Futsal Mini World Cup in Kuwait.

The Qatari champions, who won the Zone 2 qualifications in April, had a solid preparation first in Kuwait and then back in Qatar and in Malaysia before the competition.  

“Sanaye are favourites but recently we played against another Iranian team but I still believe Sanaye are better,” Al Sadd coach Mohammed Eisa said referring Tuesday’s tie against the Iranian.

“But like all other teams, we are here to win the title and we are very confident to achieve our goal,” the Qatari quipped.

Most of the players playing for Ardus are Uzbekistan international and they came tellingly close in Kuwait losing the final 1-0 against eventual champions Sanaye Giti Pasand.

This time around coach Buhodir Ahmedov is confident that they put off the past agony and lift the title on September 1 final.

“The only mantra for us is to play good futsal and I am confident that if we play our best futsal in all the matches we are going play, we have genuine chance of winning the title,” stated Ahmedov.

“We had a good preparation and are ready to play well,” he added.  

Group B Matches (Tuesday)

Ardus vs Chonburi Bluewave

Sanaye Giti Pasand vs Al Sadd