Iranian men’s national futsal team has breezed past Myanmar in its opening match at the four-nation tournament in China, which serves as the warm-up match for the 2016 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Futsal Championship in Uzbekistan early next year.
On Friday, the Iranian squad vanquished the Southeast Asian side 15-3 in a match staged at the 30,000-seater multi-purpose Changshu Stadium in the eastern Chinese city of Changshu.
The hosts drew 3-3 with the Mexican futsal players in another match of the day.
The national Iranian men’s futsal team will play against Mexico on Saturday evening, before taking on the hosts the following day.
The names on the roster of Iran squad include Sepehr Mohammadi, Saeed Mo’meni, Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh, Mahdi Javid, Afshin Kazemi, Alireza Vafaei, Meysam Barmshouri, Majid Hajibandeh, Mohammad Shajari, Mohammad Safari and Mohammad Hossein Kouhestani. Iranian’s futsal outfit is under the tutelage of Mohammad Nazim al-Sharia as the head coach.
The four-nation tournament in China opened in Changshu on December 18, and will wrap up on December 21.
The 2016 AFC Futsal Championship will be the 14th edition of the AFC Futsal Championship. It will be staged in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, between on February 10-21.
Iran has been drawn alongside China, Iraq and Jordan in Group B of the forthcoming sports event.
The hosts, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia form Group A, while Chinese Taipei, Tajikistan, Thailand and Vietnam are put in Group C. Group D consists of Australia, Japan, Malaysia and Qatar.
The top two teams in each group (eight teams in total) will qualify for the knock-out stage.
The top five teams will qualify for the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup, which will be the 8th edition of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, in Colombia.