Mes Sungun Advances to Quarterfinals

Mes Sungun sailed to a 9-1 win over AGMK FC of Uzbekistan on Saturday to secure a spot in the AFC Futsal Club Championships 2018 quarterfinals.

AGMK dived into the game with intense man-to-man marking and even matched Iran’s intense pressing in the opening minutes, the AFC reported.

While the Uzbek team looked to have better opportunities in attempts on goal, it was Mes Sungun’s Morteza Ezzati who opened the scoring in the fifth minute from a corner set-piece -- his second goal of the tournament.

Whenever AGMK’s defense showed weakness, Mes Sungun would pounce on them. Nine minutes into the game, Hossein Tayebi took advantage of a scramble in the box and found the back of the net, before scoring his second less than a minute into the restart.

Tayebi, the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship top scorer, turned provider in the 13th minute as he fed Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh who struck cleanly into the bottom right corner.

A minute later, AGMK moved on a counter-attack that saw Akbar Usmonov surging down the right flank where he then beat goalkeeper Alireza Samimi to reduce the deficit.

Mes Sungun’s teamwork was impressive around the court and Saeed Taqizadeh etched his name on the scoresheet with a simple shot to the bottom right corner in the 17th minute.

While Iran was impressive as a unit, skipper Farhad Fakhim also displayed impressive dribbling footwork in the final third as he outmaneuvered two AGMK players in the 19th minute and his strike made it 6-1 going into the break at the Gor UNY Sports complex in Depok, Indonesia.

Hamid Bigham-Tabrizi’s charges proved that Iran was deadly in set-pieces once again, as Tayebi completed his hat-trick 27 minutes into the match, before Abolqasem Orouji released a strike to claim a seven-goal lead at the half-hour mark.

In the final 10 minutes, AGMK held a solid defense and while the team ran across the half-line mark showing signs of life, it lacked the finishing touch.

However, despite the Uzbek players’ best efforts, Tayebi had the final say with his fourth goal of the tie in the closing 40 seconds to secure an emphatic win.

Mes Sungun defeated FC Sipar of Tajikistan 9-2 in it first match and will look to keep its unbeaten streak against Lebanon’s Bank of Beirut, while AGMK FC seeks to end its Group D campaign with a win against Sipar on Monday.