Ho Che Minh
Iran’s futsal team registered another emphatic win in AFC Asian Fustal championship 2014 when the defeated Uzbekistan in the semi-finals of the championship 10-0 to easily qualify for the penultimate match against their Nemesis Japan.
The defending champion defeated Kuwait earlier in the day 6-1 to take it berth in the final and for the first time in its history , it will be in the position of defending its title.
It did not take Team Melli long before the star of the championship Hossein Tayyebi opened the scoring in the first minute.
Within 8 minutes, Team Melli scored 4 more goals to make it 5-0.
Hossein Tayyebi completed his Hat trick , Hassanzadeh , the 4th was scored by Esmaeilpour with a beautiful long free kick and shafei scored the fifth.
After the 5th goal Jesus Candelas smartly rotated his players giving many bench players some needed playing time. With decreasing the tempo and introduction of the bench players , the goals dried up until the end of the half
2nd half
Iran started with a mix of regulars and bench players and were rewarded with early quick goals.
Vahid Shafei opened the scoring the 3th m then Hossein tayyebi scored twice before Shajari scoring number 9 and 10
Uzbekistan was really playing to avoid a heavy defeat and most of their strategy was on damage limitation.
Otherwise , much of the of the 2nd half was one way traffic for Iran with Team Melli players taking the freedom to perform all sort of tricks and do whatever they liked in the match. It was also a splendid practice for the 2 Uzbek keepers whom despite receiving a bagful of goals, both saved many goals as well.
It is very obvious that the more the championship is progressing the better is the Team plays, the better is their cohesion and understanding, finding each other without visual contact.
Shajari splendid goal 9th from a cracking long range shoot into the roof of the net was the goal of the match , while Tayyebi with his goals was the undisputed MVP.
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afc REPORT
Ho Chi Minh City: Hossein Tayebi and Vahid Shafiei both scored hat-tricks as 10-time champions Iran secured a place in the AFC Futsal Championship final against defending champions Japan after recording an eye-catching 10-0 win over Uzbekistan at Phu Tho Stadium on Thursday.
Alireza Vafaei, Asghar Hassanzadeh, Ahmad Esmaeilpour and Mohammad Shajara also scored as Iran maintained their 100% tournament record, with the one-sided win securing an 11th AFC Futsal Championship final appearance.
Uzbekistan, who lost to Iran in the quarter-finals two years ago in the United Arab Emirates, had also reached the semi-finals with an unbeaten record but conceded five goals in each half and will now face Kuwait in Saturday’s third place play-off.
Having beaten hosts Vietnam in Wednesday’s quarter-final, Iran got off to a blistering start and took the lead after just 42 seconds when Vafaei stepped inside, and without being closed down, fired a shot into the corner of the goal.
Ghodrat Bahadori thought he had doubled the lead in the fourth minute but saw his long-range effort cannon off the crossbar.
But with Japan coach Miguel Rodrigo in the stands having seen his side beat Kuwait 6-1 earlier, the second did come 30 seconds later when Tayebi was found on the edge of the penalty area and he spun to score.
Tayebi then turned provider less than a minute later by cutting out goalkeeper Rustam Umarov for Hassanzadeh to pass the ball into the net.
And Iran further extended their lead in the seventh minute when Artur Yunusov pulled back on the shirt of Esmaeilpour to concede a free-kick, and he made no mistake with a low strike past Umarov.
Uzbekistan managed to stem the flow of goals and nearly found a response four minutes before half-time when Shuhrat Tojiboev found Davron Choriev from a corner, but his shot from point-blank range was blocked by goalkeeper Alireza Samimi.
Iran, though, continued to control the pace of the game after the restart and Shafiei got his second of the contest after 24 minutes when he was found in the area with his back to goal and he was able to spin his defender and drill the ball into the net.
Tayebi netted his second and Iran’s seventh when he turned Farhad Tavakoli’s cross past Umarov in the 27th minute to complete this third hat-trick of the tournament.
And after Shajari added a ninth in the 30th minute, Iran brought up double figures as Shafiei wrapped up his hat-trick when he was found open in the area by Esmaeilpou