Venezuela pulled off one of the biggest shocks in FIFA Futsal World Cup history on Wednesday night in Uzbekistan when they knocked out two-time champions, Spain, 2-1.

Paraguay in turn came from behind during their match to down Afghanistan in extra-time 3-1.

Afghanistan’s only goal was scored by Hamid Hossaini.

Venezuela and Paraguay have now secured their spots in the quarter-finals.

Paraguay had however been en route to being victims of the spirited Afghanistan team but rallied at the 11th hour to pull off their win.

Paraguay will next play the winner of the Thailand-France match, while Venezuela will encounter Ukraine.

“It’s hard to even describe these emotions. It’s my fourth World Cup, it could be my last. I’m really, really happy. But it hasn’t finished and we want more: to be among the best four teams in the world,” said
Javier Adolfo Salas, Paraguay pivot, after the match.

Thursday’s lineup will see Morocco face Iran this evening followed by the Portugal vs Kazakhstan match.

Futsal fans across Afghanistan can tune in on Thursday to watch the match on Ariana Television live from 5.30pm.

Afghanistan will face Paraguay tonight, Wednesday September 25, in their Round of 16 match in this year’s Futsal World Cup. 

This is Afghanistan’s debut in the tournament while Paraguay is a seven-time participant. 

Ranked 13th in the world, Paraguay was the top team in Group A.

Afghanistan is ranked by FIFA as 30th in the world. 

The match will take place at the Homa Arena stadium in Tashkent and kicks off at 7.30pm. 

Afghanistan played Paraguay in a friendly in Tashkent ahead of the start of the World Cup. They tied 2-2. 

Speaking ahead of the match, Afghanistan winger Farzad Mahmoodi said: “Afghanistan’s presence in the top 16 teams of the 2024 World Cup is a great honor for the people of Afghanistan. 

“We had a friendly match against Paraguay before the start of the World Cup, which ended in a 2-2 draw. We hope that tonight will be our night. 

“With the support of our fans in Huma Arena, we will go into the game to win.”

Paraguay’s coach Carlos Chilavert meanwhile pointed out that the team knows Afghanistan are a force to be reckoned with. 

“We know Afghanistan are very tough opponents. When we arrived here, we played a friendly against them and it was really even, really tough. 

“They are a very hard-working team, with very good technical players. We know what we’re up against. We will have to be at our best if we want to have a chance of going through.”

Fans across Afghanistan can tune in to watch all the action on Ariana Television tonight. ATN is the official broadcaster of the tournament and is broadcasting matches live. 

Afghanistan’s national cricket team returned to Kabul on Tuesday morning after sealing a historic ODI series win against South Africa.

Afghanistan sealed the series 2-1, making it the first time in history the team has not only secured a series win against South Africa - in any format - but it was also their first-ever series win over a top five ICC-ranked side. 

The team claimed matches one and two in convincing fashion to take the Sharjah series bragging rights, winning the matches by six wickets (and with 144 balls to spare) and 177 runs respectively, bowling out the Proteas for scores of 106 and 134. 

South Africa would go on to claim the third match in consolation, chasing down a target of just 170.

The Afghans are ninth on the ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings, with a rating of 82, fractionally behind Bangladesh (86).

Afghanistan meet South Africa again in their Champions Trophy group, alongside Australia and England from mid-February.