Iran’s Mes Sungun booked a spot in the AFC Futsal Club Championship 2018 semifinals after an emphatic 8-3 win over FC Erem from the Kyrgyz Republic on Wednesday, in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The opening minutes of the match were highly entertaining as both sides took on an aggressive approach from the first blow of the whistle, the AFC reported on its official website.
Ali-Asghar Hassanzadeh opened the scoring in the first minute of the game but Mes Sungun had no time to enjoy the lead as Dilshat Kadyrov scored the equalizer from a kick in set-piece just moments after the restart.
Mohammad-Reza Sangsefidi etched his name on the scoresheet in the third minute when a set-piece split Erem’s defense and a string of passes between Farhad Fakhim and Morteza Ezzati led to Sangsefidi laying the finishing touch.
Shortly after, Erem responded with a run that ended with Akbar Kazemi outmaneuvering Mes Sungun goalkeeper Saeid Momeni but his effort flew to the right.
Daniiar Abdraimov’s charges continued with their man-to-man marking, but they lacked discipline in defending and Mes Sungun punished them heavily with Saeid Taghizadeh and Abolghasem Oruji etching their names on the scoreboard in the fifth and seventh minutes respectively.
In the 12th minute, Alireza Askari dispossessed defender Pavel Taku and easily shot through Kirill Ermolov, courtesy of Farhad Fakhim’s assist before Taghizadeh scored his second a minute later to give Mes Sungun a five-goal advantage going into the break. Less than 10 seconds into the second half, Askari displayed marvelous footwork when he dribbled past the Erem backline and let loose a right-footed strike to score his second.
More Cynical
The pace of the game then slowed down as both sides became more clinical in their movement and in the 33rd minute, a superb pass from Taku found Baigazy Uulu unmanned in front of the box, who then made no mistake to find the back of the net, before Taku himself scored in similar fashion just moments later to reduce Erem’s deficit.
Stung by the two goals, Mes Sungun began experimenting with different players donning the power player jersey, looking to solidify their spot in the semifinals, while Erem too introduced their fifth attacking member Emil Kanetov.
However, Erem eventually fell to an own goal by Maskat Alimov in the 37th minute when he deflected Aksari’s shot.
In the semifinals on Friday, Mes Sungun will face the Iraqi club, Nafit Al Wasat.
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