Preperation paying off for Nazemosharie as Iran eye 11th title

AFC – TASHKENT, Coach Mohammad Nazemosharie expressed complete satisfaction in his all-conquering Iran team after the 10-time AFC Futsal Championship winners stormed to a 13-1 hammering of Vietnam in Friday’s semi-final to set up a showdown with hosts Uzbekistan in Sunday’s title decider.

Iran were at their dominant best at Uzbekistan Stadium as Farhad Tavakoli led the rout with four goals, while Mahdi Javid, Hossein Tayebi, captain Mohammad Keshavarz, Hamid Ahmadi and Alireza Vafaei all got on the scoresheet in a resounding victory.

The West Asians have now scored a stunning 46 goals in just five games on route to their 12th continental final and are sure to start the tournament climax against the hosts as firm favourites.

“We are fully satisfied with how this tournament has progressed because we’ve done exactly as we predicted we would do,” said Nazemosharie (pictured).

“In our team we have experienced players and young players, and it is important to mix the two together for the development of the side.

“We had tough preparation games for this competition in both Europe and Brazil. We made sure the preparation was by playing against very good teams and now everyone believes in themselves.”

Iran breezed through Group B with maximum points following comprehensive victories over Jordan, China and Iraq before scoring seven without reply in the last-eight encounter against Kyrgyzstan.

“We believed before the tournament that it was our right to be in the final and now we have done that,” added Nazemosharie.

“But the most important thing is we have injected belief into the team so we are ready for every match.”

Vietnam, meanwhile, advanced to their first ever semi-final on Wednesday following a stunning penalty shootout victory over Japan after the sides had played out a 4-4 draw.

The victory also booked their ticket to the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Colombia later this year, but the match against the Iranians proved a bridge too far.

“Today we didn’t have the strength to compete with Iran because of our efforts in the previous two games against Japan and Thailand,” said coach Bruno Formoso.

“We tried our hardest but we just couldn’t recover. It has been a huge effort this tournament, and Iran just had too many really good players for us to match.

“We weren’t only tired physically but also psychologically because with the game against Japan going to extra-time and penalties it took a lot out of us.”

Photo: AFC