AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup: Japan end Iran’s reign

AFC – HOHHOT, First time champions will be crowned after Japan defeated Islamic Republic of Iran 3-2 in their AFC Women’s Futsal Asian Cup™ China 2025 semi-final at the Hohhot Sports Centre on Thursday.

Two-time runners-up Japan will face Thailand in Saturday’s final while Iran, who won the previous two editions, will face China PR in the third-place playoff, with the winners to qualify for the FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup Philippines 2025.

Japan got off to a blistering start with Naomi Matsumoto seeing her grounded effort blocked while at the other end, Iran hit back on the counter-attack with Fereshteh Khosravi forcing keeper Nene Inoue into a save.

Backed into their own half, Iran were left stunned in the third minute after Mika Eguchi collected her own blocked effort to set up Risa Ikadai to score from inside a packed box.

Another brilliant play from Japan left Iran chasing a two-goal deficit a minute later when Inoue launched a long pass to Yuka Iwasaki, who teed up Kyoka Takahashi to drill the ball into the bottom left corner.

With Ryo Egawa stretched off after suffering a knock, Iran pounced on the opportunity to up the tempo in the 14th minute with Maral Torkaman rattling the left post before the 22-year-old’s shot was brilliantly kept out by Inoue moments later.

Iran pushed forward with added intensity but their finishing deserted them with Elham Anafjeh and Khosravi seeing their efforts saved by Inoue, while Fatemeh Hosseini beat her marker on the right before missing the right post by a whisker.

Japan continued to absorb the pressure in the second half, eventually succumbing in the 24th minute when Khosravi reacted the quickest off a rebounded free-kick to set up Torkaman, who finished with a powerful strike.

Although limited to counter-attacks, Japan almost restored their two-goal lead two minutes later when Sara Oino sidestepped her marker on the right, only to see her powerful shot rattle the left post.

They had better luck in the 30th minute though as a sudden burst of pace caughtIran off guard with Inoue again the initiator, releasing Anna Amishiro on the left to lay the ball perfectly for Yukari Miyahara to finish from close range.

Iran, however, refused to concede defeat and Torkman showed her class in deadball situations when she drilled the ball past a sea of Japanese players into the bottom right corner in the 32nd minute.

The Central Asian side poured forward after that but despite utilising the power play, the equaliser eluded them as Japan took the place in the final and booked their ticket to the FIFA Women’s Futsal World Cup.

Takehiro Suga was a proud head coach as Japan finally defeated Iran after losing to the Central Asian side in the previous two finals..

“I’m proud of my players’ performance and I’m happy to win the match and qualify for the World Cup. Japan’s strength is unity and all the players worked hard for this win. It was a really tough game. Reaching the World Cup is an honour.

“Iran are our biggest opponents in Asia. One of our goals was beating them but most importantly, we focused on ourselves and had self belief after the hard work we put in. Discipline and unity was key to our success.”

Iran head coach Forouzan Soleimani admitted that her side couldn’t recover after conceding the first goal.

“I knew once we conceded that it was going to be very tough for us. Our goal was to be champions for the third time but we couldn’t achieve it.

“We played much better in the second half and for sure, we were the better team. However, there is still the World Cup and we will be motivated to win against China PR,” said Soleimani.