The two biggest losses in history of Vietnamese futsal are against Iran (2-14 in 1997 and 1-13 in 2016). It's no surprise that the world's sixth ranked team eased past Vietnam once again to qualify for the 2022 Futsal Asian Cup semifinals in Kuwait.

Vietnam could have scored first if Nguyen Thinh Phat made a pass to his teammate instead of shooting straight into the Iran goalkeeper in the sixth minute.

That was also a rare chance for Vietnam, who were completely dominated in the first half. After several great saves, keeper Ho Van Y was beaten in the seventh minute. From a corner on the right, captain Hossein Tayebi’s volley hit the post before going in.

Iran kept threatening Vietnam with long distance shots and got the second goal three minutes later. Vietnam defenders left Salar Aghapour unmarked, allowing him a thunderous strike into the top corner, leaving keeper Y no chance. Not long after the second goal, Rafaiei Pour scored another for Iran, also from long distance.

Vietnam switched to power-play and put the keeper up as an extra attacker. This helped reduce pressure from the opponent but Vietnam still could not find the net. The team even conceded the fourth goal during power-play when Tayebi won the ball and finished into the empty net from midfield.

In the second half, Vietnam did not use power-play although Iran used its reserved squad. However, they still scored four more. In the 25th minute, Mohammad Bazyar received the ball from a corner and comfortably tapped it into the empty net. Three minutes later, a mistake from Vietnam’s defense put Moslem Oladghobad in a one-on-one situation with keeper Y and he made it six for Iran.

Tayebi completed his hattrick in the 33rd minute with a simple tap-in after Ahmad Abbasi’s shot hit the post. Minutes later, Abbasi also wrote his name on the scoreboard.

Vietnam got one back at the end, when Pham Duc Hoa scored from a great team play.

Futsal Asian Cup quarterfinals: Vietnam 1-8 Iran

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Subsidiary of VnExpress License number: 71/GP-CBC, Ministry of Information and Communications, September 22, 2021

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