Tabriz: Thailand head coach Jose Mendez knows his side will have to pull out all the stops if they are to have a chance against Afghanistan, when the two meet in the AFC U-20 Futsal Championship IR Iran 2019 on Tuesday.
In terms of stats, Thailand were the best performers in the Group Stage, scoring 12 goals and only conceding three to finish top of Group B, but Mendez is expecting to face their toughest opponents thus far
“Our first target was to qualify for the quarter-finals, and now we have a very big challenge in front of us, the more-talented team of Afghanistan,” said Mendez.
“They played an incredible match yesterday against (Islamic Republic of) Iran, and they showed that they were potential candidates to be the tournament champions, and for us, it’s going to be a challenge against a team like Afghanistan.
“If you analyse the performance of Afghanistan, the two previous games and in the Qualifiers, you’ll realise they don’t have too many weak points. Fast, strong and skillful.”
Instead of looking for ways to exploit Afghanistan’s weaknesses, Mendez has shifted his focus to making sure his team unleash their full potential.
“There aren’t too many weak points but we need to try to find something or learn something from the game against Iran. We need to work on that
“More importantly, we need to be ourselves. If we don't play 100 percent tomorrow, we won’t make it. Tomorrow is a game, where if you lose, you go home. Yesterday, both teams were already qualified, so there was no pressure but tomorrow there will be a lot of pressure.”
Afghanistan head coach Abdul Razaq Momrak admitted that the loss against the host nation was unexpected, as they had initially planned to face Lebanon in the quarter-finals.
“We wanted to reach the next stage of the tournament as group winners and play Lebanon, but that’s fine,” said Momrak.
“Now we’re going to face Thailand, they’ve got a technical and tactical team. Physically they performed very well, and with their great coach, they are organised and following a certain discipline. I hope we perform well.”
In the match against Iran, Afghanistan conceded two goals in quick succession at the half-hour mark, and Momrak is looking to further fine tune his side as they aim to impress in their first appearance in the knockout stage.
“We will need to solve the problems of our team, like we need to be better in finishing our chances. We need to be more coordinated and responsible in technical matters, also play more actively.”
Source: the-afc.com