Tsai presents case for the defence Dubai: Chinese Taipei coach Tsai Chia Feng accepts that has side may face backs-to-the-wall defending during their Group B campaign in the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship which starts on Friday against fellow outsiders Tajikistan. With East Asia futsal powerhouse Japan and an ever-improving Lebanon making up the Group B quartet, Tsai (pictured) knows to expect an attacking onslaught in all three matches at the Al Wasl Stadium. "Every team in our group is very strong and we will have three tough games," the 42-year-old, who was Chinese Taipei's assistant coach at the 2008 AFC Futsal Championship, said at Thursday's pre-tournament press conference. "We know the first match will be difficult and we will focus on having a strong defence." Chinese Taipei will be hoping for a better showing at the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship than at their previous three participations in the tournament having lost every game they played in 2010, 2008 and 2006. The East Asians have shown occasional glimpses of promise since they made their tournament debut with a 7-3 win over Singapore in 2001, most notably in 2003 when they defeated Hong Kong (4-3) and Indonesia (6-4) to reach the quarter-finals for the only time in their history only to lose 7-0 to eventual runners-up Japan. In 2005, in the 24-team competition in Vietnam they twice defeated Korea Republic (2-1 in the Preliminary Round then 4-3 in the Second Round) and also recorded wins over Qatar (10-2) and the Maldives (4-1). But it has been downhill from there on, with the East Asians losing every subsequent game in the finals as well as failing to qualify in 2007. And they only just made it this time around, edging Hong Kong 5-4 after extra-time of the third-place playoff of the East Zone qualifiers, having been beaten 7-3 by familiar foes Korea Republic in the decisive semi-final. Like Chinese Taipei, Tajikistan can boast having reached the quarter-finals with the Central Asians squeezing into the last eight in 2007 following a 6-4 win over Hong Kong and a 2-2 draw with the Philippines to set up a quarter-final clash with neighbours Uzbekistan, which they lost 3-1. And head coach Damir Kamaletdinov will be content if the Tajiks reached the same stage in Dubai. "In Tajikistan futsal is still an amateur game and we do not have a lot of experience but our target is to qualify for the quarter-finals," admitted the 44-year-old, who is leading the Tajiks at the AFC Futsal Championship for a fifth time. Chinese Taipei's match against Tajikistan kicks-off at 1430 local time and will be streamed live on www.the-afc.com -- --

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