Iran beats Ukraine in women’s futsal friendly

Iran thrashed Ukraine in an exhibition game as part of preparations for the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Futsal Championship in Thailand.

On Sunday evening, the Iranians routed their Eastern European counterparts 5-2 in a match played in the Iranian capital city of Tehran, Press TV reported.

The host started the match with vim and vigor, and Arezou Sedqiyanizadeh and Fatemeh E’tedadi scored two goals in quick succession in the 11th and 12th minutes of the game to put Iran in full control against the visitor.

Well-known Iranian striker Fereshteh Karimi then extended Iran’s lead and netted the third goal in the 16th minute.

A minute later, the Ukrainian futsal players’ efforts to narrow the deficit paid off, and they could pull one goal back.

After the restart, Sara Shirbeigi took advantage of a golden opportunity, and scored Iran’s fourth goal in the 23rd minute.

Fahimeh Zare’i put the ball at the back of the net a quarter later, and put Iran 5-1 in front.

After that, Ukrainians managed to score their second of the fixture, but the goal was not enough to close the gap.

The 2018 AFC Women’s Futsal Championship, which will be the second edition of the international event, will take place onmay 2-12 with Iran joining Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in the preliminary round of the competition.