Tag: Iran U-23. Tajikistan

Afghanistan book historic berth

MON, 22 APRIL, 2024

Bangkok: Afghanistan made history by reaching the AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ Thailand 2024 knockout stage in their debut after defeating Bahrain 3-2 at Bangkok Arena on Monday. 

With Group D winners Iran beating Kuwait 4-0 at Hua Mark Indoor Stadium, Afghanistan leapfrogged the West Asians on goal difference to take second place in the group.

Afghanistan will now face Group C winners Tajikistan in the quarter-finals for a place at the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan.

Coming into the tie Afghanistan knew that a win was the first priority in keeping their qualification hopes alive, but it was Bahrain who began the stronger with Saleh Sanjar stinging the fingertips of goalkeeper Javad Safari two minutes in.

The Central Asians responded in the fifth minute, however, and Mohamed Al Sandi made Safari’s opposite number, Amin Mohamed, pull off a flying save to tip over.

And in their next attack Afghanistan had the lead they craved. Jassam Saleh found Ali Al Araibi on the edge of the area, and he drilled his shot home.

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On the 10th minute mark Afghanistan went inches from doubling their lead when Saleh saw his low fizzer strike the foot of the post.

A well-worked set-piece saw Bahrain draw level with five minutes of the half remaining. Maysam Faizi’s ran over the ball and into the area and wasn’t picked up by the Afghanistan defence allowing Farzad Mahmoodi to find his teammate for an easy finish.

The turnaround was completed by Bahrain on the 17th minute as Mohammad Moradi was brought down in the area by Jafari and Sanjar confidently dispatched the resulting spot-kick.

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With 20 seconds of the half remaining Afghanistan could have drawn level only for Reza Hossein Poor’s blistering effort to cannon back off the intersection of crossbar and post.

Needing to restore parity as quickly as possible, Afghanistan came out with purpose and thought they had won a penalty four minutes into the second half only to see the video check determine the handball by Al Sandi was accidental.

But on the 25-minute mark, Afghanistan found their own leveller as Akbar Kazemi poked home at the second attempt after Mohamed’s initial save following Mehran Gholami’s corner-kick.

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And with six minutes remaining the lead was one more back in the hands of Majid Mortezaei’s men as Kazemi’s persisted down the right flank ended with a ball into the on-rushing Gholami who fired home.

Bahrain had a chance in the final minute, but Al Araibi scuffed his shot wide from close range and saw Afghanistan hold onto the lead and secure their place in AFC Futsal Asian Cup history.

The performance of CAFA Futsal teams has been perfect so far as Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan , and Uzbekistan, the 5 CAFA teams qualified to the finals of AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ Thailand 2024 knockout stages.

It is unfortunate that two CAFA teams will be knocked out in the quarter finals as Iran will be meeting Kyrgyzstan who have defeated the defending champions, Japan, while Afghanistan will meet Tajikistan.

Omid Team scores 5 against Kuwait

Iran’s Omid Team (U23) defeated Kuwait 5-0  in the second match of the Round-Ribbon invitational tournament in Qatar. After losing to Tajikistan in the first match, the Iranian team bounced back with a vengeance against Kuwait and ended up scoring five goals without reply.

Kranjcar’s players took control of the game from the very first minutes of the match and managed to open the scoring as early as the 3rd minute through Alireza Arta’s shot. Iran continued to put pressure on the opponent’s goal throughout the match , while Kuwait was content with defending.

In the 40th minute, Sayyad-Manish scored  from a rebound after the Kuwait goalkeeper failed to hold on to the ball.  First half ended 2-0 with a decisive superiority by Omid Team.

In the second half, again, Iran continued the same with superior control and possession. The third goals was just a matter of time. Younis Delphi scored the third , five minutes after the start of the second half in the 50th minute on a clever ball stealing and accurate shot from an acute angle.

Hosseinzadeh scored the fourth in 54th minute with a precise shot to raise the pressure on the Kuwait team.

Omid Noorafkan was the fifth Iranian player on the score sheet, with a precise free kick in the 72nd minute. After the fifth goal, the humiliated Kuwaitis resorted to rough and aggressive play with some wild tackles flying. As a result , Iranian players retaliated in the absence of proper protection from the referee. In the aftermath of one such intense clashes, two players from each team were shown the red card. Amir Roustaei and Kuwait defender received their marching order in the 80th minute.

 In the 90th minute, Hamid Taherkhani was sent off as well , for Omid team to continue with 9 players , however the match ended with an emphatic 5-0 win for Iran’s Omid Team.

Qatar and Iran will play the final match on the 21st of January in Aspire Training field in Doha. Kuwait will meet Tajikistan in their last match.