KUALA TERENGGANU: Asian powerhouse Iran slaughtered Malaysia 14-0 at the AFC Beach Soccer Group A championship in Batu Burok here today.
Iran scored six goals apiece in the first two-thirds, before adding another two in the final third of the match, played over 12-minute intervals.
Malaysia, who lost 3-5 to Afghanistan on Saturday, were simply out-muscled by a physically and tactically superior Persian team, right from the start of the match.
Clearly, Malaysia lacked the basics, with poor ball control, bad positional play and inaccurate passes to allow Iran to punish them with the large scoreline.
Iran opened accounts as early as the second minute through Moslem Mesigar, who scored again in the sixth.
Mohammadali Mokhtari scored in the sixth, 12th, 18th and 29th minutes; Farid Boulokbashi in the 11th, 16th, 22nd and 30th minutes; Mostafa Kiani in the 12th; Seyed Ali Nazem in the 14th; and Mohammad Ahmadzadeh in the 20th.
Even goalkeeper Hamid Behzadpour scored with a straight kick in the 16th, to complete the rout.
Malaysia tried gamely and threw everything – but simply had no answer to the Asian giants.
On Monday, Malaysia play Bahrain, while Iran face Afghanistan.
Group B will see Oman play Thailand, while Group C has the United Arab Emirates facing Iraq, while Japan will tackle Qatar.
In an earlier Group A match, China suffered their second straight defeat, going down 2-7 to Afghanistan.
China on Saturday lost 5-0 to Bahrain.
Afghanistan drew first blood via Sami Ullah Mohammadi in the 3rd minute, before China equalised in the 11th minute through Qiu Hao.
Raof Qaderi restored Afghanistan's lead with his fourth goal of the tournament a minute later.
Then, Zainuddin Sharifi made it 3-1 for Afghanistan, before through Liu Yi-si reduced the deficit.
But goals from Mohammadi, Qaderi (two) and Hamidullah Gulzar sealed the win for Afghanistan.
The top three finishers at the AFC Beach Soccer Championship will represent Asia at the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Nassau, the Bahamas, on April 27-May 7.