Beach Soccer World Cup:
‘Never-say-die attitude’ seals wining start for Iran
Iranian Mohammad Mokhtari believes his team’s “never-say-die attitude” was key to the comeback victory over Spain in their FIFA Bech Soccer World Cup opener in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
Mokhtari was the hero of the night for Iran as he bagged four goals and delivered a Player-of-the-Match performance as the reigning Asian champions defeated the 2013 finalists 3-1 in the shootout following a 6-6 thriller at the Dubai Design District Stadium on Thursday.
In what will go down as an instant classic in the recent history of the competition, La Roja found the net with two seconds into the contest through David Ardil and took a 3-0 lead by the 10th minute, before Moslem Mesigar pulled one back and Mokhtari reduced the deficit to one after the interval.
The Spaniards still thought they had done enough for maximum points when Jose Arias made it 5-2 in the second period but Mokhtari had other ideas as he scored three more goals to force the game into extra time before Reza Amiri gave Iran a first lead of the night after the restart.
However, Chicky’s strike with two seconds left on the clock ensured a shootout ending to the match, in which Ali Mirshekari, Movahed Mohammadpour, and Amir Akbari capitalized from the spot, with Mahdi Mirjalili denying Chicky to make up for Mokhtari’s miss, to seal the triumph for Ali Naderi’s men.
“We’re over the moon,” Mokhtari told FIFA.com after the match.
“We’re relieved as well. It’s not often you’re losing 3-0 and 5-2 in a World Cup and you come back to win. Yet alone against a team like Spain.
“But we always believed we could do it. Our coach kept telling us we could do it. I think that’s one of our assets: Our never-say-die attitude.”
“We followed exactly what our coach told us,” Mesigar said.
“He kept telling us we could win the game. We didn’t panic and change our game plan. Our coach told us to keep doing what we were doing, we followed his orders, and here we are with the victory.
“Iran will never give up. When you wear this shirt, you never give up.”
Mokhtari deflected the plaudits post-match, insisting “it was a team effort and every one of us gave it everything,” but his captain disagreed.
“Mokhtari is a rare genius in beach soccer,” said Mesigar.
“Today was just another day of him pulling off heroics. He’s scored four goals against Spain. He’s showed once again why he is one of the best players in the world.”
It was also milestone night for the Iranian skipper, who, along with Spain’s Dana, set a new record for the longest time between their first and last Word Cup appearances with 17 years.
Portugal legend Belchior had held the record at 16 years.
Iran will be back in action today in Group B against Argentina, which fell to a 4-3 defeat against Tahiti earlier on Thursday.
Tahiti, a two-time runner-up in the competition, is top of the table with three points, with Iran in second on one.
The top two of each of the four groups will progress to the quarterfinals with the final showdown set to be staged on February 25.