Finally something small to show for!

Something special just happened in the small world of Iranian Futsal. For the first time since the 1992 FIFA Futsal World Cup Iran’s team made it through to the second round.

Iran tied two times champions Spain in the first game, defeated Libya and Uruguay 4-2, and needing at least a tie to go through, defeated Czech Republic 3-2.

The significance of this in the eyes of Iranian futsal fans may become clearer if you consider the fact that Iran has won every Asian futsal championship since its inception, except in 2007 when they were defeated by Japan in the final game. However, on the world stage they only have a fourth place in 1992 to show for all of their Asian dominance. So perhaps the emotional display of the players and the coaches after the final whistle against the Czechs would be better understood within that context.

The most surprising reaction to the qualification arguably came from the usually stone faced head coach Hossein Shams broke into tears and started sobbing like a baby! The man was so upset with the lack of support for his team by the Iranian Football Federation that in the last team press meeting announced his plan to resign after the tournament.

Anyway, the celebrations are very short lived because Iran will face the invincible Brazilians in two days.