Futsal - Iran to Face Japan in Friday's Semi

The 2006 champions are the only team to take the trophy out of Iran, who provide the opposition in Friday's semi-final.  Sapo admitted his delight at securing qualification for the FIFA Futsal World Cup, but he now focused on victory over Team Melli.

“I'm very happy at this time,” he said. “I'm very proud of the team and I'm very happy that we showed how well we can play. “We are very satisfied to make it to the World Cup but we are here to be champions.”

Iran's 9-1 defeat of Lebanon set up a meeting between the tournament's top two seeds, but Sapo is confident.

“We are not afraid of Iran,” he added. Sapo believes his team are improving all the time, with the last-eight fixture providing the proof as last year, Japan could only defeat Krygyzstan 1-0. “We are getting stronger, even in just one year,” he said. “Today's result against Krygyzstan showed it.”

Krygyzstan coach Nurtazin Djetybaev believes the result could have been different if his side had scored first.
But Djetybaev said his side were vulnerable after going behind as they had to attack.

“From the very beginning, I think that the game was equal, but when Japan scored the first goal we had to attack and it opened up our defence,” he said. “Our team was very prepared for this game but the Japanese team had very good instructions from their coach and their tactics were good. “But if we had scored first, the game would have been different.”

Djetybaev was bitterly disappointed at failing at the final hurdle in the bid for a World Cup berth but will not be making any rash decisions.

“Our course our aim was to be in the final stage in Brazil,” he said. “Now we have to cool down, to think about our future. “We don't have to rush now – we have four years.”