AFC Futsal Club Championship: Al Sadd 3-1 Dordoi FC

Shah Alam, Malaysia, April 19 (QNA) - Qatar’s Al Sadd recorded a comfortable 3-1 victory over Kyrgyzstans Dordoi FC to open the Group B of the Zone 1 qualifiers of the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2013 in a promising note at the Panasonic Sports Complex on Friday. The runners-up of the inaugural edition of the competition remained dominant throughout and were comfortable winners over the Kyrgyz side that must defeat Al Salmiya of Kuwait on Saturday to remain in contention of the finals to be played in Nagoya in August. Despite having a firm control over Dordoi, the Qatari champions had to wait till the 16th minute when they were awarded penalty after captain Kuka Kanimet appeared to handle the ball inside the penalty area. Ahmad Mollaali took the spot kick and converted for Al Sadds 1-0 lead. Mohamed Ibrahim Rashid made it 2-0 in the 28th minute through a superbly taken volley off the corner of captain Amro Mohssein and Mohamed Ismail killed the match off with Al Sadds third through counter-attack in the 32nd minute. Erkin Kesha pulled one consolation goal for Dordoi with less than two minutes remaining to make it 3-1. "It was a first match and was not easy at all," Al Sadd coach Mohamed Eisa said. "The opponents were very good and they played like a unit. Their goalkeeper was also brilliant going forward so we need to keep them at check which we did," he said. "But since the first matches of any competition are very tricky, I am happy that my players showed experiences and were clinical enough to get all three points which is vital. "I am sure we have lot more to offer. Now the players got the idea of the pitch and condition and we will get a chance to study our opponents so I am keeping my finger crossed to see an improved Al Sadd side in upcoming matches," he added. Dordoi team manager Jenish Kojonaliev fumed over his sides lack of fighting spirit in the first half as a reason behind the defeat. "We just remained passive in the first half and had to pay the price for it," he said. "They are a good side and we had a good second half but the disallowed goal did not do a big favour to us," he added referring to a goal which was disallowed because of the off-the-ball incident. "We are still in the competition but yes we must beat Salmiya tomorrow, I know we have the capability to do it," he quipped. (QNA)