Tag: Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup

Iran wins the 2022 Emirates Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup on a sad note.

Iran are the 2022 Emirates Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup champion!

In the tightest of finals, the Iranians hung on to a 2-1 lead right until the end against Brazil, who also had three titles ahead of this edition, to lift their fourth, equaling Russia’s record.

Amir Akbari was named the MVP, while fellow Iranian Hamid went home with the Best Goalkeeper award. After netting a double on the final day, Carlos Carballo, the Paraguay skipper, won the Top Scorer award.

Two previous champions, each with three titles, clashed on the sands of Dubai for the crown at the 11th edition of the Emirates Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup. Neither had lost so far, but in beach soccer, there are no draws, and an unbeaten streak had to come to an end on Sunday.

After a tense opening of ten minutes, Iranian beach soccer legend Ahmadzadeh finally broke the deadlock, and the mainly Iranian stadium, including those outside who couldn’t get a seat inside, exploded.

A spectacular strike from Saeed had the crowd on their feet once more in the second period, and Brazil, as they had in the semi-finals, looked to be running out of ideas, taking potshots in an attempt to get back into the game.

Eventually, Marco Octavio’s men found a way through, as Catarino slotted home a penalty to make it 2-1.

A stubborn Iran then hung on for dear life as the men in yellow shirts threw everything they had at them, but they cleverly held the Brazilian firepower at bay to clinch the win and a record-equalling fourth Intercontinental Cup!

In the award ceremony at the end of the match, the Iranian Beach Soccer national team players mutedly celebrated the cham[pionship in respect to the hundreds of compatriots who have lost their lives at the hand of the brutal regime as a result of protests across Iran.  Before the start of the match, the National Anthem was also booed by a large number of crowds in the arena in protest against the Iranian government. Those two events had the Iranian state TV scramble to cut the live trans,mission and substitute it with their own propaganda.

Kudos to Iran’s Beach Soccer players for taking a gallant stand for a just cause.

Hashempour: “We will show our strength once again”

Defending champions Iran are determined to claim back-to-back Intercontinental Cup crowns and equal Brazil and Russia at the top of the records

Defending champions Iran have landed in Dubai with the mission of reediting the 2018 crown and equalling Brazil and Russia as the most decorated sides at the Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup records. After clinching the Bronze Medal at the last World Beach Games in Qatar just a couple of weeks ago, the team feels in the perfect mood to take on such a challenge.

Grit, talent and perfect teamwork, plus the support of their passionate fans, give Abbas Hashempour’s team all the necessary ingredients to go all the way in this year’s competition, taking place in Kite Beach between the 5th and 9th of November.

“Only the most powerful teams take part in the Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup, so we are fully aware of how difficult it is to prevail in such a competitive arena. Russia, for example, is a team that can do real harm on you if you are not fully focused and fight fiercely every single second of the game. But we also are, as we have repeatedly shown, capable of winning any team in the world. This is what we have in our minds and our hearts, and we will try our best to beat all our opponents and reach the final”, Iran National Coach Abbas Hashempour explained.

The tough opposition will not be the only obstacle for Iran to accomplish their mission, though. The Persian side will be missing one of the key players, 2018 Rising Star Mohammad Moradi, due to injury, and some other players will also be back in competition after injuries, that leaves a question mark on their outcome during the coming days, but coach Hashempour believes the collective strength will help the team overcome these setbacks.

As the defending champions, the Iranian side will have all the eyes put on them, but this is not something the team is concerned about. “Everyone will be expecting a lot from us, but we are determined to show everybody why we are the champions. We want to demonstrate again how powerful we are”, the coach admitted.

Iran were drawn in Group B together with also-favourite Russia, Egypt and CONCACAF champions Mexico and will be making their debut, precisely, against the Azteca side (Tuesday 5th of November, 8:00 pm). That will mark the first step in their road to reediting the crown and claiming their third Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup.