News / Sports

Iran futsal team pummels China in AFC Futsal Championship

Saturday, 13 February 2016 2:47 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 13 February 2016 2:45 PM ]

Iranian futsal players (in red jerseys) jubilate after quashing China 7-0 in a Group B match of the 2016 AFC Futsal Championship at Universal Stadium , Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on February 12, 2016.

The Iranian men’s national futsal team has achieved another victory at the 2016 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Futsal Championship in Uzbekistan.

On Friday evening, the Iranian outfit, which had vanquished Jordan 6-0 in its opening match of the continental sports event two days earlier, thrashed the Chinese squad 7-0 at Universal Stadium in the Uzbek capital city of Tashkent.

The Persians started the match in a very convincing fashion, and Mohammad Taheri seized a marvelous chance just eight seconds into the Group B encounter to score the opener – the fastest netted at the tournament so far.

Asghar Hassanzadeh then doubled the lead for Iran five minutes later.

In the 17th minute, Hamid Ahmad had a golden opportunity from a corner, and skillfully placed the ball into the back of the opponents’ net to make it 3-0 for the Iranian team. Iranians went into the breather with the three-goal lead.

The Persians did not relinquish after the break and maintained their pressure on the Chinese.

Iran’s captain Mohammad Keshavarz was on the target six minutes into the second half, and scored the fourth goal for his team with a strike into the bottom corner.

Hossein Tayebi nailed the fifth goal of the evening just a minute later, and Keshavarz shot a brilliant strike from long range in the 29th minute to score his second.

Finally, Ghodrat Bahadori completed Iran’s mighty show in the 32nd minute.

The national Iranian men’s futsal team will play against Iraq on Sunday evening.

Iran has joined China, Iraq and Jordan in Group B of the 2016 AFC Futsal Championship.

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 knockout stage.

The top five teams will qualify for the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup, which will be the 8th edition of the event, in Colombia.

The 2016 AFC Futsal Championship began in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on February 10, and will wrap up on February 21.

The 2016 AFC Futsal Championship, which is the 14th edition of the tournament, started in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on February 10, and will finish on February 21.

Iran is the most successful team in the tournament with ten titles.

The Persians finished runner-up once in 2014, and stood on the bronze podium in 2006 and 2012.

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