Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Ashgabat: Islamic Republic of Iran showed their attacking prowess as they beat Afghanistan 8-2 in the Ashgabat 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games men's futsal semi-final on Sunday.
IR Iran will face Uzbekistan – who beat Japan 3-2 on penalties after their semi-final finished 3-3 following extra time – in the final on Tuesday.
The defending champions are on course for a fifth consecutive futsal crown after outplaying Abdul Razaq Momrak’s men early on, firing six goals in the first half.
The intensity was high from the start as IR Iran got their goals from Abolghasem Orouji in the third, Ahmad Esmaeilpour (fourth), Hossein Tayebibidgoli (eighth), Saeid Abbasi (11th), Mahdi Javid (13th) and Hamid Ahmadidazaj (14th).
Afghanistan responded with two of their own through Akbar Kazemi in the 17th – his 10th goal of the tournament – and Ali Jafari in the 25th to put the score at 6-2 at halftime.
There was no respite for Afghanistan as Shahrzad Mozafar’s men piled on more pressure after the break.
Javid completed his hat-trick with goals in the 36th and 37th – to lead the scoring charts with 11 goals.
"It probably looked like an easy win, but it was not easy.
We were just very concentrated because yesterday against Thailand, we went down twice in the first minutes and we didn't want to do that again,” said Iran's Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh.
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