Tag: Switzerland

FIFA Beach Soccer : Iran advance to semi-finals for first time

  • For the first time in tournament history, all semi-finalists are from different confederations

THE DAY REPLAYED – Iran qualified for their first ever FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup semi-finals with a thrilling win in extra time against Switzerland, while experienced sides Tahiti, Brazil and Italy also booked tickets to the last four.

Iran advanced to the semi-finals of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup for the first time in their history with a thrilling 4-3 win after extra time against Switzerland. 

  • Iran qualify for semi-finals at Beach Soccer World Cup for first time
  • Iran goalkeeper Peyman Hosseini made several saves late in the match
  • Iran will meet Tahiti in the semi-finals

Iran captain Mohammad Ahmadzadeh scored the opening goal of the match with an overhead kick. He then put Iran two goals in front with a superb, one-time volley straight out of the air directly from a throw-in.

Switzerland then sprung to life and came all the way back from two goals down to take a 3-2 lead in the second period. The country’s all-time top scorer in the tournament Dejan Stankovic started their resurgence with a flicked finish. Glenn Hodel then scored a pair of goals to give the Swiss a one-goal lead.

With less than a minute on the clock, Ali Nazem scored a clutch goal for Iran to force the match into extra time. Iran then made history when Mohammed Mokhtari redirected Amir Akbari’s shot into the net to score the winning goal. 

Iran will now face Tahiti in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Four-time champions Brazil needed a stunning overhead kick in the final two minutes of the match to see them edge past champions Portugal.

Portugal 2015 runners-up Tahiti had to work hard against Paraguay, but late strikes from Heiarii Tavanae and Patrick Tepa helped seal their progression to Saturday’s semi-finals. 

Italy’s 5-1 win over Senegal was the most dominant performance of the evening. Coach Massimo Agostini’s side were boosted b top scorer Gabriele Gori (14), who appears as if he’ll never stop scoring in the Bahamas.

 

Team Melli Beach Soccer to meet Tahiti in the quarter finals.

Iran’s Beach Soccer team reached the quarter finals of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015™ after finishing runner up in Group C following Brazil defeat of Spain 2-1

The last match in the group stages saw the 4 times title holder Brazil narrowly beat last championships runner up Spain to create one of the first major upset of this edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

Iran will be playing against Tahiti who themselves upset all the odds by beating the defending champions Russia 7-6 in Group D. Brazil will be meeting Russia for a place in the semifinals.

 

 

Thursday 16 July

16 Jul 2015
Quarter-finals
Espinho Stadium
Espinho
Brazil    Brazil  vs.  Russia         Russia


Portugal   Portugal   vs.   Switzerland Switzerland 


Italy  Italy   vs.   Japan  Japan  


Tahiti  Tahiti   vs.   Iran  Iran  
 


Queiroz is fed up with broken promises.

The Portuguese coach is not a happy man after the cancelation of the proposed Turkey training camp which was supposed to be conducted for a week before Iran’s friendly against Uzbekistan.

On Saturday, Carlos Queiroz who was supervising the training of Team Melli in the local camp in Tehran spoke of the broken promises and how he was promised that everything will be available to him to conduct his job , but in the first real trial , the promises are already hot air.

“We can go on playing this silly game. I was assured of all the necessary resources to carry out the mission to qualify but just as before and like the old days, the promises were never delivered. I have specifically and strongly demanded that resources should be at hand as a condition of renewing my contract, now you can see what has happened.”

Queiroz refused to comment on the reasons behind the cancelation of the Turkey camp however, he emphasized that he needs resources to continue his job.

“We will start the World Cup campaign from tomorrows. Tell me, how can I conduct my job? If I talk, they will accuse me of being a bad boy and the bad man of football. Not that I really care as my priority is to defend the interest and reputation of Team Melli.” Queiroz added.

The cash strapped football federation is under severe pressure financially with a substantial amount of money due to the federation from the World Cup , still being held in Switzerland because of banking restriction on money transfer to Iran.