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12th March 2010, 05:10 PM
Iran's Foolad Mahan enters AFC Futsal final
Iran's Foolad Mahan Sepahan has entered the inaugural AFC Futsal Club Championship final following a 5-3 victory over Port Authority of Thailand.
http://uc-njavan.ir/images/1i2wu159fecvlrygcsfa.jpg (http://uc-njavan.ir/)
The visitors took an early lead after just 30 seconds when a harmless shot by Thai captain Santanaprasit Tanakorn was put inside his own net by Mahan's player Mohammad Keshavarz at Pirouzi Stadium in the Iranian city of Isfahan on Thursday.
The tournament hosts, coached by Hossein Afzali, leveled matters when the 36-year-old skipper Vahid Shamsaie drove a shot into the roof of the net less than a minute later.
It didn't take long for Shamsaie to put his side ahead with a shot which left the Thai goalie Sakchai Hamaitree rooted to the spot.
Port Authority then pushed forward and managed to net the equalizer seconds before half time when Suchin Eamchalard's shot from a corner was deflected beyond the Iranian goalkeeper Mostafa Nazari.
Seconds after the restart, the visitors made it 3-2 through Warin Romanee. However, Shamsaie scored on a free-kick seconds later.
Iran's Mohammad Hashemzadeh and Ali Hassan Zadeh then powered home two goals to secure the 5-3 victory for the Iranian side to advance to Friday's final clash with Al Sadd of Qatar which thrashed the Japanese giants Nagoya Oceans 7-4 on Thursday.
“We were really surprised when we conceded the first goal,” said Foolad Mahan Sepahan's manager Hossein Afzali. “In futsal the first goal is very important and though we had chances after that, the problem still was that we conceded a goal by our own man, and that is bad.”
“It was a tough game. We had analyzed the Thais before the game but they were highly motivated,” he added. “I don't believe they played well, I believe it was my players who played badly in this game. If you look at the goals, we opened our own net once and then we were caught off guard on another goal, so I don't believe we played well at all.”
“We want to win the title of the tournament and we will do our best tomorrow,” he concluded.
Iran had already won AUB Altyn Tash Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbeks Stroitel Zarafshan and Japanese giants Nagoya Oceans to face Port Authority of Thailand in the semifinals
Iran's Foolad Mahan Sepahan has entered the inaugural AFC Futsal Club Championship final following a 5-3 victory over Port Authority of Thailand.
http://uc-njavan.ir/images/1i2wu159fecvlrygcsfa.jpg (http://uc-njavan.ir/)
The visitors took an early lead after just 30 seconds when a harmless shot by Thai captain Santanaprasit Tanakorn was put inside his own net by Mahan's player Mohammad Keshavarz at Pirouzi Stadium in the Iranian city of Isfahan on Thursday.
The tournament hosts, coached by Hossein Afzali, leveled matters when the 36-year-old skipper Vahid Shamsaie drove a shot into the roof of the net less than a minute later.
It didn't take long for Shamsaie to put his side ahead with a shot which left the Thai goalie Sakchai Hamaitree rooted to the spot.
Port Authority then pushed forward and managed to net the equalizer seconds before half time when Suchin Eamchalard's shot from a corner was deflected beyond the Iranian goalkeeper Mostafa Nazari.
Seconds after the restart, the visitors made it 3-2 through Warin Romanee. However, Shamsaie scored on a free-kick seconds later.
Iran's Mohammad Hashemzadeh and Ali Hassan Zadeh then powered home two goals to secure the 5-3 victory for the Iranian side to advance to Friday's final clash with Al Sadd of Qatar which thrashed the Japanese giants Nagoya Oceans 7-4 on Thursday.
“We were really surprised when we conceded the first goal,” said Foolad Mahan Sepahan's manager Hossein Afzali. “In futsal the first goal is very important and though we had chances after that, the problem still was that we conceded a goal by our own man, and that is bad.”
“It was a tough game. We had analyzed the Thais before the game but they were highly motivated,” he added. “I don't believe they played well, I believe it was my players who played badly in this game. If you look at the goals, we opened our own net once and then we were caught off guard on another goal, so I don't believe we played well at all.”
“We want to win the title of the tournament and we will do our best tomorrow,” he concluded.
Iran had already won AUB Altyn Tash Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbeks Stroitel Zarafshan and Japanese giants Nagoya Oceans to face Port Authority of Thailand in the semifinals