Iran female futsal players sink Hong Kong in AFC championship
Iran women's national futsal team has registered an outstanding victory at the 2015 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Futsal Championship in Malaysia, outscoring Hong Kong.
On Monday, the Iranians started their opening match staged at the Nilai Indoor Stadium in the western Malaysian city of Nilai with vim and vigor, and sought to score the opener since the beginning moments of the game.
Iran’s Fahimeh Zarei finally seized a golden opportunity in the fifth minute, and put the ball at the back of the net to separate the two sides at the end of the first period.
Iranian sportswomen kept the pressure on Hong Kong’s post after the break, and Sara Shirbeigi doubled Iran’s lead in minute 24.
A few minutes later, the Vietnamese referee Truong Quoc Dung signaled the award of a penalty kick by blowing the whistle and pointing to the penalty mark.
Shirbeigi netted the penalty in the 29th minute to score the third goal for Iran.
Fereshteh Karimi grabbed an ideal chance in the 32nd minute and put the Iranian team 4-0 ahead.
Shirbeigi took another wonderful opportunity in the 34th minute to get her name on the score sheet for the third time. She netted the sixth goal for Iran a minute later to be named the second top scorer of the tournament after Malaysia’s Farahiyah Ridzuan with five goals.
“It was our first match but I think we played very well even though there was some pressure. Hong Kong players are very fast but we managed to control their speed, which was the key to beating the opponent,” Iran’s coach Forouzan Soleymani said after the match.
Hong Kong coach Tsang Wai Chung said, “We have a lot of new players and it was their first international experience together against strong Iran side. We can learn a lot from today and we know how we can improve both offense and defense for the next two matches. After conceding two or three goals, I wanted to field more players to give them experience rather than trying to win.”
Iran women's national futsal team takes on Uzbekistan on Tuesday.
The 2015 AFC Women's Futsal Championship started in Nilai, Malaysia, on September 21 and will wrap up on September 26.
Iran has been drawn in Group A with Hong Kong, Malaysia and Uzbekistan. China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam form Group B.
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