Iran Futsal Team to Face Toughest Test Yet against Steely Kazakhstan
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran will face its toughest test yet when it plays Kazakhstan in the quarter-finals of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Lithuania 2021 at the Kaunas Arena on Monday.
In what promises to be a thrilling encounter, Kazakh fans will be hoping that the quarter-final is decided in normal time, as Team Melli won two penalty shootouts and another match after extra-time at the last Futsal World Cup.
On the other hand, Iran might want to avoid another open encounter like its Round of 16 epic against Uzbekistan, as scoring against Kazakhstan and its formidable goalkeeper Higuita, aided by defensive stalwart Douglas, has proven extremely difficult in Lithuania 2021.
Team Melli opened its campaign with a narrow 3-2 victory over Serbia before seeing off the United States 4-2, with a 2-1 defeat against Argentina being its only blemish as it finished second in Group F behind the South Americans.
In the Round of 16, Uzbekistan found a chink in Iran’s armor going toe to toe with the 12-time Asian Champions in a nail-biting 9-8 scoreline in the Iranians favor, the-afc.com wrote.
Missing from the Iran line-up is Hossein Tayyebi, who featured in the two previous editions but captain Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh has still not lost his deft touch - evident in his cheeky lob over Argentina goalkeeper Lucas Farach.
