Ashgabat: Islamic Republic of Iran showed their attacking prowess when they beat Afghanistan 8-2 in the Ashgabat 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games men's futsal semi-finals on Sunday.
The defending champions are on course for their fifth consecutive futsal crown after outplaying Abdul Razaq Momrak’s men early on, firing six goals in the first half and two after the break.
Intensity was high from the start as IR Iran got their goals from, Abolghasem Orouji in the third, Ahmad Esmaeilpour (4th), Hossein Tayebibidgoli (8th), Saeid Abbasi (11th), Mahdi Javid (13th) and Hamid Ahmadidazaj (14th).
Afghanistan retaliated with two of their own through Akbar Kazemi in the 17th – his 10th in 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 more pressure after the break.
Javid completed his hat-trick with two goals in the 36th and 37th – to top the scoring charts with 11 goals.
Afganistan came close to scoring in the half but Hussein Khademi's shot hit the crossbar in the 28th, which sums up their performance in the match.
IR Iran will face the winner of the other semi-final between Japan and Uzbekistan.
Semi-Finals
Results
IR Iran 8-2 Afghanistan
Japan x-x Uzbekistan
Sept 26
3rd-4th playoff: Afghanistan v Japan/ Uzbekistan
Final: IR Iran v Japan/ Uzbekistan
Source: ashgabat.com
Source: the-afc.com