Alireza Abbasi, a famous figure in world football and futsal science, believes:
The Afghan national futsal team now has big dreams with its Iranian head coach after the performance it gave against Selecao and the Iranian national team in the Brazil tournament.
After presenting a stunning performance and advancing to the final stage of the World Cup and appearing among the world’s futsal giants, the Afghan national team was invited to the Brazil futsal tournament and showed in two games against Selecao and the Iranian national team that it is turning the dreams of the coach and his players into an undeniable reality.
Although the Afghan national futsal team has a difficult path ahead of it among all the big names in world futsal, they have one characteristic that perhaps the old powers should count on more: prejudice and hunger. Afghan futsal is facing problems, without a professional league, without stars working in Europe, with a mind full of dreams, with high prejudice and the hunger of a wolf to hunt dreams.
World futsal has always been dominated by traditional powers like Brazil, Spain, Argentina and Portugal. These teams are not only technically and tactically impeccable but also have the infrastructure that any country dreams of. On the other hand, Asian futsal is also ruled by teams like Iran, Japan, Uzbekistan and Thailand, but now teams like Morocco, Afghanistan, France and Ukraine are emerging and sounding the alarm for the older giants. Meanwhile, Afghanistan, led by Majid Mortezai, wants to prove that they are not just a struggling team, but a rising contender. The team’s recent matches against powers like Brazil and Iran showed that they are no longer an ordinary team. The matches in the Brazilian quadrennial tournament showed that Afghan futsal is not just looking for experience, but also looking to show pride, zeal and tactical progress. They were up against Brazil, the cradle of world futsal; The country that has the most world titles in this field and has introduced legends such as Falcao, Schumacher, Fernandinho and Gabriel Limo to the world. Less than 24 hours after playing against Brazil, Afghanistan faced Iran; a team that is the strongest team in Asia and the only non-European and non-South American team that has managed to reach the final of the Futsal World Cup. This game showed from the very beginning that Afghanistan has nothing to lose and fought bravely, without fear of the great name of Iran. Afghanistan is no longer a team that is known as a second-rate team in Asia. The battle against Iran and Brazil, being invited to big games, and planning to progress show that this team is more than a motivated team. They are a growing project that could play the role of a surprise player in world futsal in the near future. They are, in a word, on the way and no one knows how far this path will take them. This new generation of Afghan futsal players has a lot to say. Take them seriously!
photo by Mohammad Mekanik
