News / Sports

Iran pummels China 10-0 in AFC Beach Soccer Championship

Tuesday, 07 March 2017 3:23 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 07 March 2017 3:23 PM ]

The picture shows a view of the 2017 AFC Beach Soccer Championship Group A match between Iran (players in white) and China on the Pantai Batu Buruk beach, Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, on March 7, 2017.

The Iranian men's national beach soccer team has thrashed China to record its third overwhelming victory in a row at the preliminary round of the 2017 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Beach Soccer Championship in Malaysia.

On Tuesday, the Iranian outfit thrashed the Chinese squad 10-0 in a Group A match on the Pantai Batu Buruk beach in the northeastern Malaysian city of Kuala Terengganu.

The Iranian sportsmen opened the match in a fairly strong fashion, and expressed their strong intentions to win the fixture as forward Mohammad Ali Mokhtari received a bicycle kick from teammate Ali Mirshekari, and opened the scoring in the first minute.

Iranian talisman Farid Boloukbashi then doubled the scoreboard, before 32-year-old Moslem Mesigar scored Iran’s third goal shortly after.

Mokhtari was on target minutes later. He beat Chinese keeper Jiang Wen Tao and a defender to make it 4-0. Custodian Seyyed Payman Hosseini’s tap-in then rolled easily between the Chinese goalie’s hands to register Iran’s fifth.

A free-kick by Seyyed Ali Nazem added Iran’s sixth before Mokhtari scored a hat trick.

They were followed by a strong strike by Mohammad Moradi, which hit the bar before going into the net.

Amir Akbari then scored Iran’s ninth as his strike slipped off keeper Chang Rui Qi’s hands to end the second period. Boloukbashi struck Iran’s 10th goal five minutes from time.

The 2017 AFC Beach Soccer Championship kicked off in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, on March 4, and will wrap up on March 11, 2017.The top three teams will qualify for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in the Bahamas.

Iran is in Group A along with Afghanistan, Bahrain, China and Malaysia. Lebanon, Oman, Thailand and Uzbekistan are pitted against each other in Group B. Group C comprises Iraq, Japan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

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