AFC Beach Soccer Championship 2017 Final: UAE V Iran [PREVIEW]

AFC – KUALA TERENGGANA, Islamic Republic of Iran head coach Mohammed Hoseyn Mirshamsi has set his sights on winning the 2017 AFC Beach Soccer Championship after his side sealed their qualification to April’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup by reaching the title showdown with the United Arab Emirates.

The Iranians punched their ticket to the continental final, and a spot at Bahamas 2017, after a closely fought 8-6 semi-final win over Japan in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia on Friday, while the Emiratis reached the last two and clinched a place at the world showpiece event following a roller-coaster win of their own over Lebanon.

“Firstly we went into the competition with a World Cup slot as our target,” Mirshamsi told the-AFC.com.

“Now we want to be continental champions too. Japan played a different game from us – they played as a team and we also played as a unit but we’ve been working on our individual strengths a lot lately and that’s why we scored a lot from set plays. The training has paid off.

“We’ve been under a lot of stress since our first match and since then we could not give our 100 percent. But now that we have qualified for the World Cup, we can start afresh and play the final tomorrow without stress. But both teams want to lift the continental title now, so I hope we can overcome this one last hurdle and make all Iranians happy.”

UAE boss Mohamed Abas, meanwhile, feels his side deserve to savour sealing their Bahamas 2017 ticket, but now wants his men to face final opponents Iran with the same determination they have shown throughout the competition.

“Our semi-final win is a moment that we all savour as it claims the World Cup ticket for us,” he said.

“We’ve been playing a lot of friendlies and tournaments as part of our preparations for the AFC Beach Soccer Championship. We’ve also made a lot of investments and I’d say today all those sacrifices have paid their dividends.

“Our final match will definitely be the toughest of all our matches in this campaign. We’ll treat our final opponents like we played any other team. In fact, we’ll never let up and try to up our game tomorrow and bring the trophy home.”

Both finalists and the third-placed team – either Japan or Lebanon – will fly the Asian flag at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup to be held in Bahamas capital city Nassau from April 27 to May 7.

MATCH DETAILS
UAE v IR Iran
Kick-off: 1600hrs (GMT+8)
Venue: Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia