Hohhot:
the-afc.com
A late goal from Iran secured a 1-0 victory in their opening match of the AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup™ China 2025 as they saw off the Philippines on Wednesday morning.
Making their tournament debut, the Philippines came within a whisker of pulling off one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s history against the defending champions, who won every one of their 10 matches en-route to claiming the title in both previous editions in 2015 and 2018.
In the end, IR Iran found a way through in the dying stages as Maral Torkaman broke Philippines’ hearts to take all three points in the Group B encounter at the Hohhot Sports Centre.
Far from being overawed, the Philippines took the game to their opponents from the start and Isabella Bandoja nearly gave them the lead in the third minute as Farzaneh Tavasoli denied her in a one-on-one situation before the rebound was chipped just over by Isabella Flanigan.
Iran then found their stride and saw efforts from Mahtab Banaei, Nasimeh Gholami and Torkaman saved by Samantha Hughes, while Elham Anafjeh and Fereshteh Karimi put their chances wide.
That sort of profligacy characterised the Central Asians’ first-half showing as Karimi and Torkaman blasted the ball over from good positions, while Hughes – the youngest player at this tournament who turns 17 in two weeks’ time – stymied Iran’s other shots, in particular pulling off an outstanding double save on Torkaman and Banaei.
Group B: IR Iran v Philippines
It was Tavasoli’s turn to shine shortly after the break as she somehow clawed away Dionesa Tolentin’s point-blank shot before then repelling another fierce strike from the same player.
The teams continued to trade blows but Iran, ranked ninth by FIFA – 46 places above the Philippines – struggled to find the breakthrough thanks to tenacious defending and strong goalkeeping.
But just when it looked like the match would end in only the second-ever goalless result, Torkaman came up with the goods for Iran.
Having spurned several chances already, Torkaman made no mistake with three minutes left after being set up by Sara Shirbeigi to sidefoot into an empty net and seal a hard-fought win.