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MEF - Defending champions IR Iran comfortably booked a place in the knock out stages of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Futsal Championship when they whipped Kyrgyzstan 10-1 in a Group C match at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

The Persian giants would most likely meet Uzbekistan from Group D in the quarterfinals after Thailand defeated Uzbekistan 1-0 to finish as the top team in Group D.


In other matches, last year’s runners up Japan and Korea Republic also cruised into the last eight with comfortable wins over their respective opponents.

Japan trounced Kuwait 5-0 in a top of the table clash that saw both teams sailed through to the quarter finals, courtesy of a hat trick by Yuki Kanayama. They will meet Chinese Taipei in the last eight.

In another top of the table match up, Korea earned a meeting with Kuwait after overpowering Chinese Taipei 7-4. Lee Jong-muk, Hea Sae-gyu and Kim Man-joong all scored two goals each.

Even though they lost, Chinese Taipei made history for themselves by qualifying for their first AFC Futsal Championship quarter finals.

Uzbekistan looks a sure bet to finish second in the group as they meet an already eliminated Malaysia in their last match today. Malaysia on the other hand, can kiss the tournament goodbye after losing badly to Iraq, 2-8.

Iran, champions of Asian futsal since the AFC Futsal Championship was inaugurated in 1999, were always in total control of the match and once again, their top striker Vahid Shamsaee helped himself four goals.

Kazem Mohammadi added in a brace while skipper Mohammad Reza Heidarian, Ahmad Pari Azar, Saeid Abdollahejadian and Mohsen Zarei contributed a goal each. Nurjan Djetybaev scored a consolation goal for Kyrgyzstan.

Thailand completed their preliminary Group D matches with a perfect record of three out of three wins and will meet the second best placed team of Group C in the quarterfinals.

Their opponents in the last eight hangs on the result between Lebanon and Kyrgyzstan, in which the winner claims the right to meet Thailand.

In what has to be the tournament’s lowest scoring match, Thailand edged Uzbekistan 1-0, the winner coming from skipper Yutthana Polsak in the 13th min. 

Despite the loss, Uzbekistan are poised to qualify for the last eight as they need only a draw against winless Malaysians. The Malaysians started off well by holding the Iraqis to a one all score in the first half, Jamhuri Zainuddin scoring the equaliser in the 15th min after Arkan Hamza put Iraq ahead in the 11th min.

There was nothing much Malaysia could do in the second half of the match as Iraq came out with guns blazing, with Hamza adding two more goals to his name in the 21st and 25th min to make it a hat trick. 

Waleed Ajeel slotted in two more goals in the 26th and 28th min to make the score 5-1. Malaysia then pulled a goal back a minute later through Addie Azwan Zainal but there was never going to be a Malaysian come back as goals by Suhail Fatlawi (34th min) and Razzak Tama (36th and 39th min) settled the match.

In a match between both teams that has already been eliminated, Palestine collected its first points of the championship by thrashing Macau 9-0 in Group A. Rafat Rabee was the toast of the team with four goals to his name.

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