Sunday, October 12, 2008

Iran joined the big boys

Well damn yeah ... Iranian futsal national team joined the big boys ... But there are some comments that I would like to add ... They call Iran, the Brazil of Asia as the whole nation's hobby is football, futsal and other types of soccer. The point is, specially Iranian boys, fun is : "DAMN YEAH, LETS GO AND PLAY SOCCER :-)" or if I want to say as a very clear example I used to play at least once a week, gathering with my friends, renting a place to play football indoors.

Actually Iran has been one of the ever lasting powers of Asian soccer from the beginning but has never been a world class power in the outdoor's soccer field and at least we(Iranian people) believe it is because of very bad administration both in Iranian football federation and Iranian professional league ...
But at futsal the sky is blue for Iranian futsal team. in Asia, the record is all gold exept of 2006 :

AFC Futsal Championship record

but still in world class Iran just once became 4th team of the world in 1992 and the rest just failed to reach the 2nd round of futsal worldcup. But yet again, now @ 2008 we are coming to surprise everyone.


The FIFA reports follows as well :

The first phase of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Brazil 2008 came to a conclusion on Thursday with the final round of games in groups C and D. Reigning world champions Spain held their nerve to record a 3-0 defeat of Uruguay and confirm top spot in their section.

In the battle to see who would join them, Czech Republic fought till the very end against Iran but missed out on the win they needed to advance. The eager eastern Europeans came back twice, but the Asian champions stood firm to book their spot among the best eight teams in the world.

In Group C, meanwhile, Ukraine failed to impress against the already eliminated China PR but did just enough to claim a 4-2 victory and with it first place. Argentina qualified behind them after beating a gutsy Guatemala 2-1.

The big game
Czech Republic 2-3 Iran
Goals: Jan Janovsky 27, Martin Dlouhy 31 (Czech Republic); Ali Hassanzadeh 16, 39, Vahid Shamsaee 30 (Iran)
With both outfits nursing hopes of a place in the next round, the tension was palpable as the match kicked off. And although the Czechs needed the three points to go through, it was the Iranians who dominated proceedings, Tomas Neumann's men only reacting after they had fallen behind to Ali Hassanzadeh's first-half goal.

The pace quickened in the first five minutes of the second half, Jan Janovsky breathing new life into the Czech challenge with an equaliser before Iran skipper Vahid Shamsaee promptly restored his side's lead. Martin Dlouhy hit back a minute later to make it 2-2 and set up a thrilling finale. The men in red dispensed with their goalkeeper in a desperate bid to conjure up a winner, but saw their hopes extinguished when Hassanzadeh scored a second time to secure Iran's place in the next round for the first time since Hong Kong 1992.

The player
Vahid Shamsee (IRN)
The Iranian captain led by example in his team's crucial win over Czech Republic. As well as scoring the goal that put Iran ahead 2-1, he posed a consistent threat up front, pushing himself to the limit to keep the Asian side's Brazil 2008 challenge alive.

The stat
5 - The number of times Argentina have reached the second group phase, missing out only at Spain 1996. The South Americans' best finish was fourth place at Chinese Taipei 2004.

Source

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