Iran frustrated by cancellation of women’s futsal at Islamic Solidarity Games
Iran’s preparation for the inaugural Women’s Futsal World Cup suffered a major blow after the cancelation of the women’s futsal tournament at the upcoming Islamic Solidarity Games.
Iranian women were to participate at the multi-sport event – starting November 7 in Riyadh – but the event was called off due to “an insufficient number of teams registering for the event,” Mohammad Tabe’, Iran’s chef de mission in the Saudi capital, confirmed on Saturday.
“The ISG tournament would have served as a proper preparation for us ahead of the World Cup, but, unfortunately, only three teams registered, leading to its cancellation,” Iran head coach Shahrzad Mozaffar said after a training session in Tehran on Saturday.
“To be honest, we had a feeling for the past two or three weeks that the event might not happen, which is why we started looking for alternatives. We have already begun negotiations with several teams to arrange friendly matches during the same period,” added the Iranian coach, who took the role for a second spell in June, replacing Forouzan Soleimani after a below-par Asian Cup in May.
The two-time Asian champion had to settle for a consolation third place in China in May, though it was still enough to see Iran join Japan and Thailand in securing a World Cup spot.
Iranian girls will get their World Cup campaign underway against eight-time Copa America champion Brazil – the top team in the latest FIFA World Ranking – on November 23 in Group D, before taking on Panama three days later.Mozaffar’s side will hope to be in contention for a top-two finish in the group and a place in the round of 16, when squaring off against world No. 7 Italy on the final day of the group stage on November 29.
“Our goal is to arrange at least one or two friendly matches close to the World Cup start date. However, the World Cup teams are generally reluctant to play during that period, while other teams are out of their competitive form,” added Mozaffar.
Iran will play Russia in a couple of friendly games in the Russian city of Tula on October 16 and 18.