|
AFC - Vahid Shamsaee may have
finished as the top-scorer at the AFC Futsal Championship and scooped the
Most Valuable Player Award, but the Iran star hailed retiring skipper
Mohammad Reza Heidarian as the true driving force behind his success.
Shamsaee notched his 12th and 13th goals of the tournament to help Iran
claim their ninth continental title in ten attempts courtesy of a 4-0
victory over hosts Thailand at Nimibutr Stadium on Sunday.
But despite scoring over a quarter of his team's goals in the entire
competition, Shamsaee insisted he would not have accomplished anything if it
were not for team-mate Heidarian.
"Mohammad Reza Heidarian is not just someone I play with, he is my teacher,"
he said.
"I have learnt many things from him and many of the skills I have are
because of him. If he is not that confident to play a pass that makes it
easy for me, I cannot score. I will never forget Reza, he will stay with me
forever and he will always be my teacher."
In a team full of stars, Shamsaee has always stood out as perhaps Iran's
most crucial player.
And he got off to a promising start in Bangkok, scoring twice in the 12-0
rout of Kuwait.
Two more followed against
China before he netted five in the 14-0 drubbing of Tajikistan as Iran
romped to top spot in Group D.
Shamsaee found it relatively hard going against Lebanon in the
quarter-finals, notching only one of his side's nine goals, before again
underlining why he is such a vital part of Iran's success in a tight
semi-final contest with Japan when he pounced on a defensive lapse to claim
the only goal of the game.
Like Iran, the 32-year-old has finished top of the pile in nine out of ten
editions of the AFC Futsal Championship and while he has collected the same
hat-trick of trophies before, he insisted this time it held extra
significance.
"This year is quite special," he added.
"I won these two prizes in the tenth year of the competition so this figure
is quite special and I will just try to continue playing like this in the
future.
"I enjoy what I am doing in futsal, I am just thinking about my family and
my team and I am just trying a lot and training a lot and I think if I
continue like this, no doubt my level will always be high."
|
