AFC Beach Soccer Championships 2017: Meet the teams [IRAN]
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Loading...AFC – KUALA TERENGGANU, 12 teams who will be vying for honours at the AFC Beach Soccer Championship Malaysia 2017 starting on Saturday.
The competition also serves as the qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017 where Asia will be represented by the top three finishers.
GROUP A: Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran won the 2013 edition of the championship in Doha, Qatar after beating Japan 5-4 on penalties following a 6-6 draw after extra time. The Iranians have also finished in third place on no less than five occasions – 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2015.
Islamic Republic of Iran arrive in Malaysia as one of the pre-tournament favourites and – as 2013 title winners – are expected by many to progress beyond the Group Stage with relative ease.
Head coach Mohammad Hoseyn Mirshamsi is refusing to attach too much relevance to previous performances and is, instead, fully focussed on the task at hand.
“We have had great preparations for the game which is growing rapidly in popularity in Iran,” he said. “I’ve been with the national team for close to two years and we need to focus on what we have to do now to be successful without looking back too much to our achievements.
“There have been a lot of changes to the national team and what we should be doing now is to gel together as a team and make it difficult for our opponents to beat us.”
