Iran rolls into FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup semi-finals
The national Iranian men's beach soccer team has earned a spot in the semi-finals of the 2017 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Beach Soccer World Cup in the Bahamas, after it could overcome the Swiss squad in a thrilling match.
On Thursday, the Iranian team, nicknamed Team Melli Football Saheli, notched up a 4-3 victory over the Central European outfit in a quarter-final fixture played at National Beach Soccer Arena of Malcolm Park in Nassau.
The Iranian players began the match in a better fashion, and forward Mohammad Ahmadzadeh executed a bicycle kick to hand Persians an early lead in the fourth minute of the first period.
Swiss beach soccer players could not level the scoring in the remaining minutes of the period, and went into the cloakrooms with one goal down.
Iranian beach soccer players heaped pressure afterwards, and they doubled their advantage through Ahmadzadeh’s fine strike only two minutes into the second period.
Switzerland’s 31-year-old skipper Dejan Stankovic then netted his team’s opener three minutes later, before Glenn Hodel scored a pair of goals to give the Swiss a 3-2 lead.
With less than a minute on the clock, Ali Nazem scored a clutch goal for Iran to force the match into extra time.
Mohammed Mokhtari made history later on when he redirected his teammate Amir Akbari's shot into the net to score the winner.
The national Iranian men's beach soccer team will face Tahiti in the semi-finals on Saturday.
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