Alan Brandi and Abdessamad Mohammed couldn\u2019t have imagined being at Uzbekistan 2024 when qualifying for it began two years ago. The former candidly conceded he felt his best days were behind him; the latter\u2019s nation had never reached a FIFA Futsal World Cup\u2122.<\/p>\n
The veterans aren\u2019t just in Central Asia, but illuminating the competition. Brandi is now second on the scoring chart, getting the on-fire Marcel glancing nervously over his shoulder, while Mohammed is the top assister.<\/p>\n
Their latest exhibitions helped Argentina overpower returning Croatia and France see off Thailand. La Albiceleste will now stay in Tashkent to take on Kazakhstan, Portugal\u2019s conquerors, in a blockbuster quarter-final, while Les Bleus will switch to Bukhara to play Paraguay.<\/p>\n
Thailand 2-5 France
\nThailand goals: Suphawut Thueanklang (25), Narongsak Wingwon (33)
\nFrance goals: Steve Bendali (9), Mamadou Toure (23), Abdessamad Mohammed (29), Souheil Mouhoudine (38), Ayoub Saadaoui (39)
\nPlayer of the Match: Abdessamad Mohammed (France)<\/p>\n
Francis Lokoka told FIFA pre-tournament that he was the craziest member of Raphael Reynaud\u2019s cast. \u201cIt\u2019s really that kamikaze-like attitude that makes you a good goalkeeper,\u201d he said. Everyone inside Bukhara Universal Sports Complex saw his wild side \u2013 and that he\u2019s a good goalkeeper and then some \u2013 today. He geed up the spectators, got into a slanging match with the opposition coach, and celebrated every save \u2013 and there were plenty \u2013 exuberantly. His co-star, the returning Mohammed, decoded Thailand at the other end. Could they become the second FIFA Futsal World Cup debutants, after Colombia in 2012, to reach the semi-finals?<\/p>\n
Quotes
\n“The key was the pressing. We knew they had a very good pivot [in Muhammad Osamanmusa], so for us the key was to deprive the pivot of the ball, and we knew we would make the difference on the wings. The duel with ‘Osa’ was a great duel, but unfortunately there had to be a winner and a loser.\u201d
\nSouheil Mouhoudine<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key today was to harass them and win back the ball as much as possible. We did it and, little by little, turned the game in our favour. I congratulate the whole team, who were exemplary. It\u2019s a great joy to be among the best eight teams in the world.\u201d
\nRaphael Reynaud, France coach<\/p>\n
Stat
\nAbdessamad Mohammed won his 110th cap, outranking Stephane Basson to become the third-most-capped France international behind Sid Belhaj and Djamel Haroun. The 33-year-old marked the occasion by extending his record tally of goals for a Bleus player to 82, and becoming the outright top assister at Uzbekistan (six).<\/p>\n
Argentina 2-0 Croatia
\nArgentina goals: Alan Brandi (2), Matias Rosa (24)
\nPlayer of the Match: Matias Rosa (Argentina)<\/p>\n
Matias Lucuix\u2019s men, defensively and offensively, look the business. Aside from shipping five against Angola, when they had already qualified for the knockout phase, they have conceded just twice in three games. At the north of the court, pivot power is powering down rivals. Brandi, Rosa and Cristian Borruto now have 14 goals between them. They must now prepare for the Kazakhstan conundrum, while Croatia will return home having done themselves proud at a first global finals in 24 years.<\/p>\n
Quotes
\n\u201cWe knew that if we lost, we would go home. We saw this happen to big teams. I think we played a great match and deserved to win. Now it\u2019s Kazakhstan. It will be very difficult because they are very, very good with the flying goalkeeper. We\u2019ll study them and do our best.\u201d
\nAlan Brandi, Argentina pivot<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we played a good game, carried out our plan, but Argentina are one of the best sides in the world and they played a better game. You learn a lot from playing in the World Cup. It was a great experience and I think we\u2019re smarter for it.\u201d
\nDario Marinovic, Croatia winger<\/p>\n
Stat
\nAlan Brandi moved on to 16 FIFA Futsal World Cup goals. He and team-mate Cristian Borruto are now just one shy of entering the competition\u2019s list of all-time top 10 marksmen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alan Brandi and Abdessamad Mohammed couldn\u2019t have imagined being at Uzbekistan 2024 when qualifying for it began two years ago. The former candidly conceded he felt his best days were behind him; the latter\u2019s nation had never reached a FIFA Futsal World Cup\u2122. The veterans aren\u2019t just in Central Asia, but illuminating the competition. Brandi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1025312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20966],"tags":[9648,27192],"class_list":["post-1025311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fifa-news","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1025311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1025311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1025311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1025311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}