AFC - Dabiri Tabriz became the first team to qualify for the AFC Futsal Club Championships semi-finals after a comprehensive 7 -2 win over Al Qadsia in Group B at Shuangliu Sports Centre on Tuesday.

Abdulrahamn Al Tawail had given Al Qadsia the lead within the first five minutes of the game but goals from Mortteza Ezzati and Nasrollah Momen put Tabriz in front at the stroke of half-time, however the tight nature of the opening period had given no warning of the avalanche of goals to come in the second half.

Babak Akbari and Farid Namazi were both on target for the Iranian club after the re-start before Hamad Al Wadhi pulled one back for Al Qadsia to put the score at 4-2. But as the Kuwaiti club tired, Tabriz profited; Behroz Jafari, Javad Asghari and Vahid Shafiei all finding the net to put the gloss on an impressive second-half performance.

“I am very happy that we had seven different scorers today, it shows the quality of our team and that we have many goal-scorers in the squad,” said Tabriz coach Hossein Shams.

“I think the level of this match was very high, the very highest of Asian futsal and Al Qadsia were a good team and played very well.

“But they tired in the second half, while my players have a very high and good physical fitness: in the first minute of the match and the final minute of the match my players were the same.”

Al Qadsia had gone in front after just four minutes as Abdulrahman Al Wadi lofted a measured pass from the left over to an unmarked Al Tawail in the centre who calmly slotted the ball past Alireza Samimi.

As the half reached its midway point, though, Tabriz brought the scores back level as Mohammad Ghasemi’s chipped ball up field flicked off the head of Al Tawail and fell kindly into the path of Ezzati who fired home from close range.

And with just five seconds on the clock remaining before the half-time break, Momen broke free on the left side and unleashed a low shot that squeezed past Ebraheem at his near post to give Tabriz the lead at the interval.

After the re-start Tabriz continued in a similar vein and the Al Qadsia goalkeeper did well to block Jafari’s goal-bound shot, throwing himself low to his left to keep the deficit to one goal.

Ebraheem could do little about Tabriz’s third, though, which came five minutes into the second period as Rashid Gholipour’s ferocious shot was parried only as far as Akbari who snapped up the loose ball to extend the Iranian club’s lead.

Two minutes later Namazi had made it four as the ball ricocheted to him inside the penalty area and he calmly rounded Ebraheem to stroke home.

Tabriz had looked in control for most of the second period, but at the midway point the Kuwaiti side, who saw custodian Ebraheem leave the field with ankle injury, reduced the deficit to two as Brazilian Guina’s shot was spilled only as far as Al Wadhi who tapped into an empty net.

Ghasemi then rattled the frame of the goal with a fierce drive that hit the crossbar before Jafari took the lead back to three goals for the Iranian side after he finished confidently following Shafiei’s lay-off.

Asghari was next on the scoresheet with a low drive into the bottom right-hand corner to make the scores 6-2, before Shafiei got the goal his dominant performance merited to take Tabriz’s final tally to seven and underline their status as one of the favourites for the title.

“I’m happy about my team’s efforts today, this was a great experience for us, we were just a little too tired in the second half,” said Al Qadsia coach Fabio Cortez.
“Yesterday, against Chonburi, we used a lot of energy and Tabriz were physically too strong for us – they are, in my opinion, one of the best teams in the world.”