Three Defeats for Iran's Women's Futsal National Team in Guatemala

The Iranian women's futsal national team finished fourth in Group A of the 2015 World Tournament after suffering three defeats against Portugal, Brazil, and Costa Rica. Iran lost to Portugal and Costa Rica despite scoring the first goal in both matches. Thus, the final of the Asian Cup will be a repeat between Iran and Japan for the seventh title. The Japanese team lost three consecutive matches against Guatemala, Spain, and Russia. The Asian champion team, consisting of Nasimeh Gholami, Fereshteh Karimi, Farzaneh Tosuli, Naghmeh Moradi, Sepideh Zarrinrad, Niloufar Ardalan, Sahar Papi, Zohreh Mishtami, Soheila Malmouli, Tahereh Mahdipour, Fatemeh E'tedadi, Azam Akhundi, Sara Shirbigi, and Fahimeh Zarei, participated in the sixth edition of this competition under the coaching of Forouzan Soleimani. Iran has a history of participating in two previous editions in 2012 and 2013, where they finished seventh and fifth, respectively. The national team took the lead against Portugal in the second minute with a goal from Nasimeh Gholami but conceded an equalizer before halftime and two more goals in the second half. Forouzan Soleimani commented on the defeat against Portugal to the Football Federation's website, stating, 'We faced a fresh and lively team from Portugal with a tired squad. We started the game very well and scored in the second minute, but unfortunately, as the match progressed, our players became more fatigued.' Brazil has won all five previous editions of this tournament. The match against Brazil was held at the 'Domo Polideportivo' in Guatemala, ending the first half with a 4-0 lead for the Seleção. They scored two more goals in the second half. The match between these two teams in the 2012 World Tournament ended with a 6-1 victory for Brazil. In 2013, Brazil defeated Iran 7-1. Iran and Portugal also played in 2012, with a result identical to this year, where Portugal won 3-1. The Iranian coach stated after the defeat against Brazil, 'Playing against the world champion was very difficult. These matches taught us a lot to work harder and be more successful in the future. We need to add new players to the team to defend our Asian championship title in the next two years.' The Seleção opened this tournament with a 9-0 win over Costa Rica, but against Iran, they only managed to score six times. Portugal also won 7-1 against Costa Rica, while they had previously defeated Iran 3-1. These results indicated Iran's superiority over Costa Rica, but contrary to expectations, despite scoring first, the match ended 2-1 in favor of Costa Rica. Before traveling to Guatemala, the national team players requested the presence of Ali Sanaei, the head coach's advisor, who also participated in the Asian Cup hosted by Malaysia. The futsal website reported that Sanaei, the former head coach and current technical manager of the Iranian men's futsal national team, was sent to Guatemala at the request of officials to assist the team. Maryam Pourjafarian, as a referee sent from Iran, was the second referee in the match between Japan and Spain. She is present in this tournament at the official invitation of Hector Aragon, the administrative director of the Guatemalan Football Federation, as FIFA held a referee training course before the tournament.