Press TV - The national Iranian men's beach soccer team has achieved a hard-fought win at the preliminary round of the 2017 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Beach Soccer World Cup in the Bahamas, defeating the Nigerian side to progress to the next level of the tournament.

On Monday, the Iranian outfit thrashed the African squad 6-5 at the end of a Group B match played at National Beach Soccer Arena of Malcolm Park in Nassau.

The Iranian sportsmen opened the match in a fairly strong fashion, and expressed their strong intentions to win the fixture as forward Mohammad Ahmadzadeh performed a bicycle kick, and opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the first period.

In the second period, the Nigerians were awarded a penalty kick after an Iranian defender hand balled in the area. Midfielder Victor Tale then netted the penalty for the Nigerians to draw the game level.

Iran’s Farid Boloukbashi then responded with a scissors kick and doubled the scoreboard, before Emmanuel Ohwoferia scored Nigeria’s second goal and the score stood at 2-2.

Minutes later, Iranian talisman Ahmadzadeh tacked Iran’s third goal and put the Persians ahead. Nigeria’s defender Godspower Igudia was on target shortly before the end of the second period, and equalized 3-3.


[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"] Mohammad Ahmadzadeh of Iran (R) battles for the ball with Ogbonnaya Okemmiri of Nigeria during the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017 Group B match between Nigeria and Iran at National Beach Soccer Arena of Malcolm Park in Nassau, the Bahamas, on May 1, 2017.[/caption]
The national Nigerian men's beach soccer team built up momentum in the third period, and Bartholomew Ibenegbu made it 4-3 for his team.

Iran fought back and forward Mohammad Ali Mokhtari carried out an acrobatic move to draw 4-4 within seconds.

Iran defeated Nigeria 2-1 in the penalty shoot-out and reached the quarter-finals of the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

The Iranian beach soccer players are scheduled to play against counterpart from Switzerland in their next match on Thursday.