Ashgabat: Islamic Republic of Iran stormed into the last four of the Ashgabat 2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games men's futsal after beating Thailand 10-4 in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Shahrzad Mozafar’s men took their tally to 43 goals in the tournament as they swept past a Thailand side who couldn’t reproduce their opening half performance.
IR Iran will play Afghanistan next – who beat Turkmenistan 6-5 on penalties after 5-5 at extra time – in their semi-final tie on Sunday.
IR Iran, who are unbeaten in the tournament, were down by a goal in the second minute as Thailand took the lead through Jirawat Sornwichian.
The defending champions equalised in the fifth from Mohammadreza Sangsefidi’s strike. But Thailand responded four minutes later through Sorasak Phoonjungreed.
Abolghasem Orouji hit back in the 12th to level the score at 2-2 but both teams were left with a man down in the 13th minute after Thailand's Kritsada Wongkaeoand and Sangsefidi picked up their second yellow cards.
IR Iran however, never looked back after that, scoring four more before halftime.
"We are really good at playing three-versus-three, and especially today, we showed our skills at dribbling, we were faster than them and we took advantage of it at the one-on-one occasions," said Ali Asghar Hassan during the three-versus-three part of the match following a red card for each team.
Goals from Ahmad Esmaeilpour (14th), Ali Asghar Hassan (18th), Tayebibidgoli Hossein (18th) and Farhad Tavakoli (19th) gave Mozafar’s men a 6-2 lead at the break.
In the second period, IR Iran were in cruise control, Hossein completed his hat-trick with strikes in the 24th and 29th minutes. Javid Mahdi took his tally to eight in the tournament with a goal in the 29th.
Moslem Oladghobad hit the 10th for IR Iran in the 28th minute while Sornwichian and Apiwat Chaemcharoen added to Thailand’s tally late in the match as Mozafar’s men ran away with the victory.
"For the first 12-14 minutes we played very well. Then we had chances. After the red card everything changed, said Thailand coach Jose Maria Pazos Mendez after Kritsada Wongkaeo received a 13th-minute red card.
"We lost our concentration in three to four minutes. The game was over. It's not an excuse but the referee allowed too much to them.
"They hit three or four of our players with elbows. They have cuts on their lips," he added.
Goalkeeper Ali Reza Qurbani was the hero for Afghanistan, after saving a penalty and scoring the winning strike in the shootout against Turkmenistan to earn their spot in the semi-finals.
Afghanistan were 3-2 up at halftime with goals coming from Mohammad Ali Fayazi, who hit a double in the fourth and eighth minute while Hadi Jafari added the third in the 13th.
Turkmenistan’s goals were scored by Gurbangeldi Sähedow in the sixth and Allaberdi Meredow added one in the eighth.
Afghanistan – who pipped UAE 4-3 in their final group tie – scored in the 27th minute through Jawad Haidari to put the score at 4-2.
The hosts however, fought back to level the score 4-4, through Bä?imow Abdy in the 33rd and Ataýew Watan in the 38th to send the match into extra time.
Seyed Mehdi Hashemi struck in the 46th minute of the second extra time but it only took a minute for Turkmenistan to draw level through Daýanç Garajaýew to take the match into penalties.
But lady luck was not on Garajaýew’s side as his effort was saved by Qurbani at 5-5, leaving the Afganistan goalkeeper to score the winner against his opposite number Berdimyrat Sapardurdyýew.
Yuki Murota's brace steered Japan into the semi-finals after beating Jordan 4-1 in a one-sided match on Saturday.
Both teams were 1-1 at halftime. Murota finding the net first for Japan in the third minute. However, Jordan's Ali Alkhazaleh equalised in the 11th to even the score.
The 2013 runners-up – who beat Thailand 6-4 I their last group match – picked up the tempo in the second half, knocking in three goals through, Koto Uematsu (28th), Murota (35th) and Masaya Hashimoto (38th) to seal the win for Bruno Jose Garcia Formoso's men.
Quarter-Finals
Results
IR Iran 10-4 Thailand
Japan 4-1 Jordan
Afghanistan 5-5 Turkmenistan
(Afghanistan win 6-5 on penalties)
Vietnam x-x Uzbekistan
Semi-Finals
Fixtures
IR Iran v Afghanistan
Japan v Vietnam / Uzbekistan
Photo: AFC
Source: the-afc.com