AFC - Reigning champions Islamic Republic of Iran advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship after defeating China PR 11-1 in a Group C tie on Sunday.
China held firm for the first three minutes but a defensive error proved costly as Iran took the lead courtesy of Hossein Tayyebi’s strike.
Iran continued to control the match before firing two more goals seven minutes later through Farhad Tavakoli and Mahdi Javid.
Javid added his second four minutes later before Mohammad Shajari and Tayyebi’s strike made it 6-0.
China, however, did not give up as Xu Yang pulled one back when he found an opening following an assist by Shen Siming for a 6-1 score at halftime.
Iran wasted no time after the break as they picked up the pace, firing five more goals with Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh scoring two under three minutes.
Ahmad Esmaeilpour hit Iran’s ninth while Tavakoli’s second three minutes later gave Team Melli a commanding 10-1 lead before Tayyebi put the icing on the cake, completing his hat-trick with three minutes left to play.
Iran will play Iraq in their final group tie while China will play for pride against Myanmar on Tuesday.
Mohammad Nazemosharia: Iran Head Coach
"Chinese Taipei had a go on change, compared to their first match. In the first half, we were under pressure but after a few moments we regained control of the game. We acknowledge that they tried their best. We don't pay attention to the amount of goals we score, and we continue to respect all the teams in this tournament. We try to show our best performance in each game. We have had a few friendlies with Iraq so we know them very well. They are completely different to the East, and we hope to see a beautiful game."
Sergio Gargelli: China PR Head Coach
"To compete against Iran I told my team that we need to press them and wait for them to make mistakes and try our best, because this is a better team compared to us. We have to approach strong teams like Iran, Portugal and Spain aggressively, and don't just try to play defensively. The match today and yesterday was a good learning experience for us."