Qantas Futsalroos defeat Tajikistan to progress to quarters

Australia beat Tajikistan 5-4 and progress to the quarter finals of the AFC Futsal Championships in Uzbekistan.

Australia managed to snatch victory in a topsy turvy game and set up a quarter final matchup with the tournament's hosts.

The entertaining match swung both ways before the Qantas Futsalroos finally managed to get the better of their opponents.

It was the Tajiks however, who started the stronger of the two sides when they opened the scoring in the 5th minute. They quickly doubled their advantage in the 8th minute leaving the Aussies needing to act before the tie got away from them.

Giovenali halved the deficit in the 14th minute with a well placed free-kick which crept inside the right post and the Aussies pushed forward in search of an equaliser.

Just as the Qantas Futsalroos looked to be heading into the break a goal down, Miller let fly from distance with a dipping swerving shot that left the keeper with no chance.

The crowd were now to be treated to an exciting second half where the Tajiks came out with purpose and took the lead again just two minutes after the re-start. The lead was short lived though, as Rogic scored his second and levelled the match within 60 seconds.

The momentum was firmly with the Aussies as they went on to take the lead thanks to Miller. The pendulum appeared to swing back to Tajikistan in the 30th minute though, when Keith was given two yellow cards in quick succession.

Tajik star man Sherzod scored from the resulting free-kick and the match appeared to be going their way again but goal scoring machine Rogic had other ideas as he scored the winner after an impressive break from the Australians.

Qantas Futsalroo coach Steven Knight was pleased with the second half performance and glad his side had reached the quarter finals.

"It will be a great experience to play in front of such a large crowd and before the tournament my objective was to at least reach the quarter finals, which we've done."

The quarter final match will see the Australians take on the hosts on Thursday.