New Zealand’s victory drought continues at the Continental Futsal Championship in Thailand, as they lost their third consecutive match in the tournament.
Afghanistan won their second game of the tournament in Thailand, as they first won against Guatemala, and now thrashed the Futsal Whites to consolidate their standing on the points table. After taking the early lead, New Zealand never looked in control and just gave it away to the Afghans.
It was Logan Wisnewski who scored an easy goal for New Zealand in the third minute of the game. Akawass Twigg got the ball from the Afghan captain Mahdi Norowzi, who fumbled and flicked the ball onto his opponent right next to the goal and passed it to Wisnewski who didn’t falter.
Afghanistan came up with the equalizer in the 10th minute of the game as a result of a classic move. Akbar Kazemi played a quick one-two with Norowzi and passed the ball from the left flank to Farzad Mahmoodi on the right. Mahmoodi didn’t make any mistake to put the ball in the net.
After the equalizer, both teams kept pressing throughout the first half but the goalkeepers from either side showed great defensive skills and the scores remained level at 1-1 after the first period.
Afghanistan took an attacking approach right from the beginning of the second half and displayed amazing coordination on the pitch, leaving the opposition defenders clueless. However, despite all the hard work, New Zealand kept them from scoring the second goal until the dying moments of the game.
When a draw was pretty much on the cards, the Afghans fled away with the game with only 4 minutes to go until the final whistle. It was Mehran Gholami who broke the deadlock and then Hamid Hossaini further consolidated the lead with a perfect long-range strike.
In the last minute of the game when New Zealand were employing the flying goalkeeper, Omid Qanbari bagged a brace.
Afghanistan’s solid performances ahead of their Futsal World Cup debut will be a huge confidence-booster for them. They’d love to carry that momentum into the World Cup where they’ll play the likes of Argentina and Ukraine in the group stage. The mega event will begin from September 14 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.