Tough ties ahead as futsal?s finest ?enter the unknown?

The Australians trained in Esfahan for the first time on Monday and are in confident mood as they prepare to vie with Wuhan, Pro’s Cafe of Lebanon, Port Authority of Thailand and Qataris Al Sadd for a place in the semi-finals.

The Thunder recently enlisted Jack Whetney of the Solomon Islands with the tournament in mind and the striker will add a touch of flair to the team, but Amendolia believes the fact that the AFC Futsal Club Championship is the first of its kind in Asia means all nine sides in the competition will start on an equal footing.

When asked who are favourites to win, he said: ?It is very hard to say. We don’t know much about the other teams.

?We cannot make any predictions and until we see the first few days of games it will be hard to judge.

?Our group looks hard and we expect each game to be tough. We just want to get past the first game against Wuhan and then take each game as it comes.?

In the other game in the group, Al Sadd open against Pro’s Cafe with Brazilian coach Fabiano Ribeiro confident his side are ready for the tournament.

Al Sadd held a six-day training camp in Egypt before beating the Kuwait national team 3-1 in a friendly prior to arriving in Esfahan and Ribeiro is satisfied with his side’s preparations.

?We had a good training camp in Egypt before playing Kuwait, who are one of the best in the world at futsal,? he said.

?We know this will be a very hard competition with the strongest teams in Asia here so it will be tough.?

Pro’s Cafe coach Rabih Abou Chaaya admitted that while his side – like the rest of the teams in the tournament – are heading into the unknown, they fear no one.

?I think Group B is very strong,? he said.

?All the teams are very experienced and though we don’t know the other teams, they also don’t know us.

“Our first aim to get to the next round but we are not afraid of anyone.?

The top two teams from Group A and Group B will advance to the semi-finals.
-Source ? AFC Website