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| AFC Futsal Championship |
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| Mendez hails first-half blitz |
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| Head coach Jose Mendez said that Thailand's first-half against China was their best performance in the tournament yet. |
BANGKOK - Coach Jose Maria Parzos Menedez hailed his side's first-half performance as the 'best of the tournament' after the hosts outclassed China 7-3 to reach the final of the AFC Futsal Championship.
Panomkorn Saisorn and Prasert Innui both scored twice as the hosts largely dominated their opponents at Nimibutr Stadium to move within touching distance of a first continental futsal crown.
But the foundations of victory were laid in a scintillating first period that saw Thailand go in at the break 5-1 up.
"I think our first-half was the best of the tournament for us," he said.
"I think our first 20 minutes was fantastic. The first-half we played at a very, very high level. The team played fast and we attacked better. I think in the first 20 minutes there was only one mistake but our game very complete in attack and defence.
"I was very worried beforehand because I saw the team was very tired against Australia and China is a team that is physically very strong with strong pressure"
China did briefly stage a late rally in scoring twice towards the end of the game and Mendez warned his side they cannot afford to switch off in a similar manner in Sunday's final.
"We scored five goals and maybe we relaxed too much because we must play with more intelligence than we did at the end."
China coach Farinha, meanwhile, lamented the fact his side could not reproduce the form that had seen them into the last four and felt the 4-1 win over Uzbekistan had taken a toll on his players.
"Thailand deserved to win but we did not show the same performance we showed in the previous games so I think the big margin was because of that," he said.
"Only at the end of the second half did we start to go back to our usual shape.
"I wouldn't say it was a step too far. I just think maybe the reason why we didn't play well at the beginning of the first-half, especially, was that Thursday was a very stressful game for all of us.
"Not just physically but mentally because there was lots of pressure on us, we wanted a place in the World Cup so much.
"I just think that if we'd played the same as in the other games maybe Thailand would have still won but maybe the game would have gone down to the final minutes. We showed that we lacked some of the energy we had in the other games
"I am not disappointed with the players, because this sometimes happens, but basically the first-half was so poor that that was our biggest problem."
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