FUTSAL – STAKES are high for Bahrain as anything less than victory against Indonesia today will result in their elimination from the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup.
The final round of matches in Group C will see three of the four teams still in with a chance to advance to the quarter-finals.
Japan have sealed their place in the next round after withstanding a second-half barrage from Bahrain on Friday to edge their encounter 3-2.
Despite falling short eventually, Bahrain’s coach Marcelino Da Silva was beaming after they came close to pulling off an extraordinary fightback against Japan.
The Italian was bullish about their final game against Indonesia, where they will have to pick up their first win in tournament history in order to remain in contention for a knockout stage berth.
“We played against the best team in Asia,” he said.
“We had a strategy initially to control the game and in the second half, we changed our mentality and tried to win the game. My players believed in what I said and they saw (the plan) working.
“I’m so proud of them because they gave more than 100 per cent and think people enjoyed watching the game. I told the players ‘thank you’ because they believed in our process, because we showed that we can do something. I liked their courage and they controlled the game (in the second half) and that’s more than enough.”
“Yes, we can win - why not?” the 50-year-old said. “This game (against Japan) gave us the boost that we needed. If we had lost by six or seven goals, it would have been a different feeling. But today, we came out stronger after the game.”
Indonesia were held by Thailand 0-0 and need one more point to finish in the top two when they face Japan.
Luis Estrela hailed his Indonesian charges for taking the game to Thailand and while disappointed at not being able to emerge victorious, he acknowledged that it could still be an important result.
“I think we were amazing in the first half and defensively, we stopped Thailand with very good high pressure on them,” he said. “I think we must have more quality with the ball and we need to find the right spaces (in attack), but the tactical schemes were very good… we should have gone to the locker room with the advantage.
“The second half was harder, we lost some capacity to press and Thailand improved also. I am not happy because we didn’t win, but this point could be important, so I am very proud of our performance.”
The Portuguese asserted that the focus is now fully on beating Bahrain for their first win of the tournament, which should prove enough to send them through to the last eight.
“I think we are in good shape,” the 45-year-old said. “But most importantly, it’s our mentality. We want to play as a top team with the winning mentality, with good pressing, with quality with and without the ball, with (sound) tactical schemes.
“It will be a tough challenge because Bahrain is a very good team and has a very good coach. We will recuperate now and do video analysis, and find the right strategy.”
A lacklustre first-half showing was rectified after the break by Thailand head coach Thanatorn Santanaprasit but it was still not enough for them to claim three points, and he urged them to focus now on their final game.
“For the first half, maybe the players were trying too hard to score, and there was stress felt by the team,” he said. “I tried to encourage the players for the second half (to relax) and it worked but we still couldn’t score.
The 45-year-old pointed out that Japan looked vulnerable at times despite winning both matches and is hopeful of finally achieving victory against them, having lost both previous encounters in tournament history.
“Definitely, Japan is the toughest team (we have to face),” Santanaprasit said. “But we will have a chance if we play well enough and make fewer mistakes.
Takehiro Suga admitted that Japan found things tough against Bahrain, having gone 3-0 up at the break.
“It was a difficult game because Bahrain executed the power play for a long time,” he said. “They were keeping the ball, so that was a very difficult situation for us, but what mattered most is that we got the win.
“We still tried to score in the second half but the situation was difficult, and the most important thing was to defend (well).”
The 42-year-old remains confident that Japan can achieve their target of topping the group and asserted that his team are ready to face Thailand.
“Thailand is (also) a very strong opponent, and it will be another tough game,” Suga said. “So, we have to recover well and concentrate on the next game. Our players’ condition is very good and we will play well in the next game.”
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