TEHRAN – Iran booked a place in the semi-finals of the AFC Futsal Asian Cup Thailand 2024 after defeating Kyrgyzstan 6-1 in its last eight tie at the Bangkok Arena on Wednesday.
The win meant the 12-time champion also punched its ticket to the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024, with a meeting against Uzbekistan or Vietnam in Friday’s semi-finals.
Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile, will need to wait for the outcome of the day’s last quarter-final between Uzbekistan and Vietnam to learn whether its campaign has concluded, or it will return to action in Friday’s playoffs.
Behrooz Azimi opened the scoring for Iran in the seventh minute but Amanbaev Donierbek equalized the match a minute later.
Salar Aghapour scored Iran’s second goal with a free-kick in the first half.
Saeid Ahmad Abbasi scored Iran’s third goal three minutes into the second half.
Mahdi Karimi scored the fourth in the 25th minute and doubled his tally in the 35th minute after collecting the ball off Aghapour’s cutback from the left flank to slot home on turn from the top of the box before Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh made it 6-1 from the penalty spot.