Iran beats New Zealand 6-1 in pre-Futsal World Cup friendly
Iran secured an impressive 6-1 victory over New Zealand on Tuesday in its second warm-up outing ahead of the inaugural FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup, which kicks off Friday in the Philippines.
Mahsa Kamali, Nasimeh Gholami, and Fereshteh Khosravi found the net for the Asian powerhouse in the first half, before Gholami added her second goal after the break, with Elham Anafjeh and Mahtab Banaei also on the scoresheet.
Shahrzad Mozaffar’s side had shared the spoils with Poland in a 1-1 draw in Pasig – the host city of the World Cup – on Sunday.
“These two matches were extremely beneficial for us, as we gave game time to the entire squad to test different scenarios with various lineups,” Mozaffar said after the game.
“I’m very pleased that several of the players managed to get on the scoresheet today. I’m fully satisfied with the performance level of the entire team; the players delivered a high-quality performance, which is a very positive takeaway for us.
“Both sides employed the powerplay at different stages of the game today, which helped us simulate the conditions of a competitive match. These kinds of games were exactly what we needed to prepare the team for the World Cup,” added the Iranian coach, who replaced Forouzan Soleimani after a mediocre Asian Cup campaign in May, in which the two-time champion settled for a third-place finish.
Iran is drawn in Group D of the World Cup alongside Brazil, Italy, and Panama.
The Iranian team will get their campaign underway against eight-time Copa America champion Brazil – the top team in the latest FIFA World Ranking – on Sunday, before taking on Panama three days later, and world No. 7 Italy on Nov. 29.
The top two teams in the group will progress to the round of 16.