Futsalroos lose semi-final clash

The Futsalroos, who had already qualified for the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2012 to be held in Thailand in November by making it to the semi-finals, will now take on Iran in the bronze medal match.

The game was locked at 0-0 at half-time, but second-half goals from Kenichiro Kogure, Wataru Kitihara and Rafael Henmi earned Japan a place in the final.

"A couple of players (Fernando de Moraes and Chris Zeballos) left to get back to work and it doesn't help to lose players of that quality," Futsalroos coach Steve Knight said afterwards, according to the-afc.com

"The difference between teams is often the strength of the bench and we conceded at a point in the game when I was trying to rest players and the participating players were less experienced.

"But I can't be too disappointed with that result against a team like Japan.

"In the last couple of games the players sat back a bit and I asked them to step up and play higher up the court.

"Our target is a podium finish. After the quarter-finals the target was reset. We were hoping for a win tonight but it didn't happen but that's futsal."