Our Goal is to Go to Fina: Iran's Futsal Capitan Hassanzadeh

The marksman wears the shirt and the captain’s armband of Iran, something of which he is no doubt proud, even if it means he enjoys a lower profile than some of the game’s other leading lights.

Appearing at his fourth Futsal World Cup, Hassanzadeh has a career record like few others and a talent that puts most of the world’s other futsal players in the shade.

“It’s something I talk about a lot with my team-mates and they always say to me: ‘If your name was Hassanzadinho, Hassanzadao or something like that, you’d be seen as one of the best players on the planet’,” he joked to FIFA.com.

“I honestly don’t see it as all that important, though. The fact that I’m not seen as one of the best isn’t frustrating for me. I just try to focus on my game and to enjoy what I’m doing. That’s enough for me.”

While the modest Hassanzadeh is not at all put out by the lack of praise for his individual skills, he struggles to comprehend the lack of recognition given to his team.

“It’s not very often that we’re named among the favorites or the big guns in world futsal,” lamented Hassanzadeh, a key performer in that run to third at Colombia 2016, the best performance ever by an Asian team in the history of the competition. “That’s why we want to do well in the World Cup."

"It shows us where we stand in relation to the other teams and it gives us more visibility than any other tournament. We’re here to change the way people see us, to change people’s opinions of Asian teams and of Iran in particular.”

Iran will meet Uzbekistan on Friday.

"We don’t want to go through that again. We’re aiming higher, though we have to be realistic. The matches are getting tougher and tougher and the teams more and more professional. We know it will be hard, but our goal is to go one step further, to the final,” Hassanzadeh said.

Though the Iranians just missed out on the showpiece match five years ago, they enjoyed a magnificent run to the last four, knocking out defending champion and tournament favorites Brazil in the Round of 16. It was an unforgettable achievement, made all the more so by the fact it was the last game of the legendary Falcao’s career.

“It was a very special moment,” recalled Hassanzadeh, a goalscorer that day. “Nobody thought we could beat Brazil. It was a game of contrasting emotions, though. We had the immense joy of beating the world’s best team, mixed with the immense sadness of knowing we’d never see Falcao again, the most spectacular player the game has ever produced,” he concluded.