Press TV - The national Iranian men's beach soccer team has achieved a hard-fought win at the preliminary round of the 2017�F�d�ration 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.
