Shamsaee hails retiring ‘Reza’

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."