Coach Diego Raul Giustozzi and his team of Futsal Vietnam (VN) could not solve the “overmatch” against Uzbekistan and lost 1-2 in the quarterfinals of the Asian Futsal tournament. Now VN enters the round Play off compete for the remaining tickets to the World Cup with double challenges.
After Uzbekistan defeated Vietnam in the quarterfinals, AFC had to design a Play off round to compete for the fourth Asian ticket to the 2024 World Cup. 3/4 teams officially have tickets to the World Cup: Iran, Thailand and Tajikistan. Uzbekistan reached the semi-finals, but they are the World Cup hosts and automatically have 1 spot, so the 4 losing teams in the quarter-finals will compete for the remaining spot. The two Play off round matches on April 26 are as follows: Iraq – Afghanistan (14 hours), Vietnam – Kyrgyzstan (16 hours).
Vietnam showed a very good match against Uzbekistan despite losing 1-2. Photo: AFC
Kyrgyzstan has been an unknown team in Asian futsal for many years, but in recent years, when neighbors Uzbekistan (AFC), Kazakhstan (UEFA) performed very well at the World Cup playground, so did Kyrgyzstan. and Tajikistan aggressively invests.
From the beginning, Tajikistan “picked the sweet fruits” when appearing in the semi-finals, which means having a spot in the 2024 World Cup with “neighbor” Uzbekistan. As for Kyrgyzstan, it competes with Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Before facing Vietnam in the Play off semi-finals, Kyrgyzstan had a “training” match with Iran and lost 1-6. Photo: AFC
Among the four teams participating in the Play off round, there are two new faces investing in futsal: Afghanistan received a lot of help and practice from Iran, while Kyrgyzstan made clear progress.
Right in their first match, Kyrgyzstan taught the reigning Asian champions – Japan a lesson when they defeated 3-2, a fatal blow that caused Japan to be eliminated right after the group stage. And in the last match, Tajikistan held Japan to a draw, as a “final blow” to send Japan home and absent from the 2024 World Cup.
That said, Central Asian countries are investing strongly and fiercely in futsal. Not only the countries of the former Soviet Union but even Afghanistan are the same when they have the right to think about a 2024 World Cup spot.
Kyrgyzstan is anonymous and Vietnam has participated in the last two World Cups and both made it to the round of 16, but it is not because of this that we are optimistic about defeating them. The message that Kyrgyzstan sent to Vietnam was to defeat defending champion Japan in the first match of Group C.
It is worth mentioning that Kyrgyzstan futsal has no naturalized players in this tournament. Names like Marsat Alimov, Kairat Kubachinov, Samat Uulu are the faces that have “sown sadness” in the reigning Asian champions, Japan. The entire Kyrgyz football team has a very Central Asian face, narrow eyes, high nose, tight cheekbones, moderate figure, but extremely strong and durable.
Kyrgyzstan (red) in the 3-2 win over Japan. Photo: AFC
Kyrgyzstan entered the quarterfinals with second place in Group C, sharing 5 points with group leader Tajikistan, but lost the extra difference (the two opposing teams drew 1-1). Kyrgyzstan showed itself to be an open team in the group stage, scoring 10 goals and conceding 9 times, while Vietnam only scored three goals in the group stage. Vietnam’s quarterfinals also “keep the motto” of 1 goal in a match.
The hypothesis is that if Vietnam defeats Kyrgyzstan in the semi-finals of the Play off round, it will enter the final to meet the winner of Play off 1 between Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which are very strong opponents.
In the quarterfinals, when meeting Thailand, at the end of the first half, Iraq led 2-1. It was not until the end of the match that host Thailand had a comeback by scoring two goals to set the score 3-2, sending Thailand to the World Cup.
In the group stage, Vietnam had a difficult time winning 1-0 against China and drawing 1-1 with Myanmar. If the opponents in the Play off round are very weak and have caused countless difficulties for the “upper odds”, what will happen to Vietnam?
