AFC - Iran’s Sanaye Giti Pasand recorded yet another one-sided victory in the AFC Futsal Club Championship after thumping Al Rayyan of Qatar 7-0 on Monday.

With their second consecutive victory in the tournament, Giti Pasand virtually booked a place in the semi-final with a match to spare while Al Rayyan’s hopes are still alive following their first day’s win over hosts Yarmouk SC.

Giti Pasand, who downed Vietnamese debutants Thai Son Nam 8-0 in the opener, continued from where they left off netting four goals in the first half alone.

Afshin Kazemi continued his fine goalscoring run in the tournament with a brace while two own goals by Al Rayyan handed Iran a 4-0 lead. Iran international Ahmad Esmaeilpour, Yousuf Hamidreza and Sajjad Bandi Saadi also added a goal apiece for their side, who will face hosts Yarmouk in Tuesday’s last match of the group stage.

“I have earlier stressed that our approach would be the same regardless of the opponents,” Giti Pasand coach Afzal Alireza told reporters after the match.

“We played a great game yesterday and our players continued the same tempo today, our philosophy is to work hard and try to collect as many points as possible before we move into the bigger stages later,” he added.

Asked whether his side would take Yarmouk lightly specially after sealing a place in the semi-final, Alireza stressed, “A championship chasing side never take any match easily, our approach would be the same.”

Al Rayyan, who had recorded a hard fought 5-3 win over hosts Yarmouk on Sunday, were looking like chasing the shadows of the Iranian players as goals flooded in during the first period of the match.

After initially holding Giti Pasand players, Al Rayyan conceded the first goal to Esmaeilpour and rampant Giti Pasand added three more within the first 10 minutes.

There were periods in the match where Al Rayyan had some breather but the Iranians totally controlled the proceeding which saw Saad Bilal getting a red card in the 17th minute and Spanish import Carlos Corvo limping off in the later part of the match.

“We did not have the beginning we wanted specially conceding three goals in three minutes,” Al Rayyan’s Spanish coach Juan Antonio said.

“Our players were kept under pressure from the beginning and we never recovered from that despite holding them for a longer period in the second half.

“Now we have a do or die fixture against Thai Son Nam and I am confident that the next tie will be a different ball game. We know it won’t be easy as still there are chances for all the sides of the group to get qualified.”

Tuesday’s Matches
Nagoya Oceans vs All Sports
GH Bank vs Ardus
Yarmouk vs Sanaye Giti Pasand
Thai Son Nam vs Al Rayyan