Futsal Team Melli started its campaign to regain the Asian title by defeating Indonesia 5-1. The match played in Ho ch Minh city was in group B of the AFC Futsal Championship Vietnam 2014.
Team Melli started the match controlling the game as expected , but lack of concentration , brilliant goalkeeping by the Indonesian keeper, and a few wild shots, some from impossible angles, kept the Iranians at bay for initial part of the first half. While the match was progressing , Indonesian players grew in confidence and started matching Iran on attacks , although none of their players really threatened Alireza Samimi in goal.
Iran finally opened the scoring which was long due on minutes 8 when Hossein Tayebi beautifully scored with a half turn eventually beating the brilliant Indonesian keeper. Indonesia countered a minute later and created its most scoring chance but the ball was cleared on the goal line by Iranian defense.
From then on Indonesia grew in confidence as the match worn on , looked more organized and adventured forward more often , leaving their defenses exposed. on minute 15 Taheri misses an open goal , followed by Hassanzadeh who missed a sitter while Candelas was getting frustrated by now with the wasted opportunities by his players.
However , a minute later on 17th Farhad Tavakoli put Candleas mind at ease when he scored the 2nd from a nice long diagonal pass.
on 18rh minute Alireza Vafaei gets injured and as soon as the play resumes Tavakoli scored his second and Iran’s 3rd with some nice giggling work.
A minute late Hassanzadeh smashes in the roof of the net after a swift counter attack to make it 4-0 Iran could have added another in the remaining minute but the half ended 4-0 for Team Melli.
The second half started similar to the first with Iran having much of the play and creating the chances while wasting them. And the inevitable happened when Indonesia scores it 1st goal on the 10th minute of the 2nd half.
Shafei scored Iran’s 5th when he was released to become one on one against the fast advancing Indonesian keeper. Shafei dribbled with ease to score in the open goal.
Iran first match ended with a convincing 5-1 win.
Iran’s next match will be against China on Friday at 16:00 Tehran time.