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The tournament will take place between 25-27 May
We are all set and ready to go, as the AWBG Asian Qualifier gets underway shortly. The players have completed their final training sessions and will battle it out to qualify…
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The press conference took place on Wednesday afternoon, as all six managers of the participating nations took centre stage to express their thoughts and feelings heading into this year’s crucial AWBG Asian Qualifying stage, with the Board Member and Head of Match Commissioner of SAFF, Muidh Alshehri, opening the conference by displaying gratitude for the nations involved and welcomed everyone to Saudi Arabia. Josep Ponset, Head of Events at Beach Soccer Worldwide, extended upon Alshehri’s points, and displayed thankfulness to SAFF for their commitment to Beach Soccer and their huge amount of assistance to make this event possible on short notice.
A quarter-final clash between the 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup hosts, United Arab Emirates, and the 2023 Arab Beach Soccer Cup finalists, Oman, will kick-start this year’s proceedings, with Oman Coach, Thalib Al Thanawi remaining humble despite his side’s recent form, acknowledging that everyone has the chance to qualify and was sure it will be a good and tough tournament, as all six nations have strong sides. He hopes his side will do their best, to be one of the two teams to qualify for the finals in Bali. UAE boss, Victor Vasques, focused on the importance of consistency and remaining sharp, as he highlighted the value of this tournament, as his side’s focus is to compete at a highest-level to be ready for the “main challenge ahead”, the 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
This match will be followed by the 2023 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup champions, Iran, facing Thailand in the second quarter-final. Iran Coach, Ali Naderi, reflected on the significance of their recent cup victory and that this tournament could be “good preparation” for his players for the 2023 FIFA World Cup.
Despite his sides quarter-final exit from the 2023 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup, Thailand Coach, Setthakornchai Chuenta, reminded people of value of the induction of youth within his squad for this tournament, congratulated his upcoming opponents on recent success and was excited for his side’s big test.
The semi-finals for this tournament will kick-off on 26th May, as Japan will take face-off against the winner of Iran vs Thailand, which could potentially pan-out to be a rematch of the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup final, where Japan will look to avenge their 6-0 defeat from March. Japan Coach, Teruki Tabata, was quick to mention his side’s “disappointing experience in the Asian Cup” but, has set his sights “to become champions in this competition [the AWBG Asian Qualifier].”
Following this encounter, host nation, Saudi Arabia will face the winner of United Arab Emirates vs Oman. The Saudi Arabia coach, Guga Gloccowick, focused on the significance of developing the sport, believing this “is a big step” and thanked SAFF for their support and Beach Soccer Worldwide, hoping that this “is the first of 100 tournaments to make together.” He finished by looking forward to this competition and promising a strong amount of fight from his team for the tournament’s entirety.
Two sides will qualify from this tournament to participate in the 2023 ANOC World Beach Games, meaning that the two finalists will be on the plane to Bali.
This competition will commence on Thursday 25th May at 19:15 local time, and you can watch all the matches here with us, live on BeachSoccerTV.
To find more about this event click HERE!
FIXTURES – 25th May
Quarter-finals
19:15 – United Arab Emirates vs Oman
20:30 – Iran vs Thailand
