Asian Women’s Futsal Championship 2018: Iran overcome China PR to advance [VIDEO]

AFC – BANGKOK, Reigning champions Islamic Republic of Iran passed their first real test of the tournament to advance to the AFC Women’s Futsal Championship 2018 final four with a 4-2 win over China PR in a high-quality quarter-final on Wednesday.

Goals to Tian Jiao and Zhang Yue had the East Asians 2-1 ahead on the verge of half-time, but a Fereshteh Karimi-led Iran took the lead in the first minute of the second half and closed the game out with a late Sara Shirbeigi goal.

Shahrzad Mozafar’s charges will now meet Vietnam in tomorrow’s semi-finals, while China’s promising tournament ends at the quarter-final stage.

Iran had piled up 23 goals in their previous two matches, and in the opening moments they picked up from where they had left off in the group stage as Karimi and Shierbegi both went close.

Karimi gave the reigning champions an early lead when she fired home from a free-kick in the second minute, but China took just a minute to respond, as Tian Jiao met Zeng Qingqing’s inch perfect cross to fire home a wonderful header.

A number of saves from Zhang Meini kept the scores level before Zhang Yue beat a defender, played a one-two with Tian and fired the ball into the roof of the net to put China 2-1 ahead in the ninth minute.

Seyedehnastaran Moghimidarzi forced Zhang Meini into her best save yet in the 13th minute, but the Chinese shot-stopper’s miscalculation three minutes later allowed a scuffed Nasimeh Gholami shot to find it’s way into the net from close range.

Both Karimi, who saw a shot cleared off the goal line by Liu Duan, and Ma Yiming, who missed the target, had good chances to give their side the half-time lead, but the sides remained locked at 2-2.

But, as in the first half, Iran began the second period with a flourish and regained the lead when Karimi passed up a chance to shoot in order to expertly assist Fatemeh Etedadi, who slammed home an emphatic seventh goal of the tournament.

Karimi continued to cause problems for Hu Jie’s side and only Zhang’s two superb 26th minute saves kept the one-goal margin intact, while China struggled to reproduce the attacking threat they posed in the early stages of the match.

Iran extended their lead to two goals for the first time when Fahimeh Zarei teed up Shirbeigi to make it 4-2 with four minutes remaining and – despite the best efforts of China – seal a crucial victory.

Shahrzad Mozafar: Islamic Republic of Iran Head Coach
“Actually, It was a very hard match, but we knew it would be like this. We did a lot of work in our training session and I think we were ready for everything, but the second half performance was much better than the first half. Overall I am satisfied that we beat China, and I have to say congratulations to China for their big improvement since last year. As I said yesterday, this is the new power in Asia.”

Hu Jie: China PR Head Coach
“Today we played a really good game and we showed our team spirit. We showed how this team can work and scored two beautiful goals, but at the same time we can see some limitations and disadvantage defensively, and that’s what we need to improve. I’d like to offer my appreciation to my players for this year of preparation for this tournament. They gave up their university studies and work to came and prepare for this tournament.”

Full Match: