Afghanistan’s Mortezaei shifts focus to Futsal World Cup

Afghanistan will start preparing immediately for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024 after sealing a historic win in the qualifiers in Thailand on Sunday.

Majid Mortezaei’s side led from start to finish in their 5-3 AFC Futsal Asian Cup Thailand 2024 Playoff 3 win against Kyrgyz Republic at the Bangkok Arena with the head coach saying they are determined to impress in September’s FIFA Futsal World Cup.

“While I am proud to have sealed qualification for the first time, it is important to remain focused as we have the FIFA World Cup to look forward to.

“We had a specific programme in place three months before the start of this tournament and we worked hard,” he said on Tuesday.

In their tournament debut, Afghanistan enjoyed a remarkable campaign, finishing second in Group D ahead of Bahrain and Kuwait before pushing Tajikistan all the way in the quarter-finals, with Mortezaei’s side ultimately suffering a 2-1 defeat after extra-time.

The disappointment of missing out on the semi-finals, however, was erased with a stunning 5-3 win in the first playoff against Iraq before Kyrgyz Republic’s challenge was easily dealt with to confirm their FIFA Futsal World Cup ticket.

“We have an average age of 22 in our team. We want to celebrate this happiness and start working on a programme which we will coordinate with our federation and CAFA for our preparation for Uzbekistan 2024,” said Mortezaei.