Iran plans to take on Azerbaijan in futsal friendly, says coach

TEHRAN, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The head coach of the Iranian men's national futsal team Mohammad Nazemosharia said that that Iran is planning to play two friendly fixtures against the Azerbaijan national futsal team, Press TV reported on Wednesday.

"Cancellation of the two scheduled demonstration matches against the Slovenian squad disrupted our plans. We are trying to organize two friendlies against Azerbaijan in Baku late in January," Nazemosharia was quoted as saying.

All members of the Iranian men's national futsal team went to the Slovenian Embassy in Tehran on Monday morning, and were surprised to find out that no visa had been issued for them, he said.

"This issue has dampened the team's spirits ahead of the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Futsal Championship," the Iranian head coach said.

The Iranian men's national futsal team is gearing up for the 2018 AFC Futsal Championship, which will take place in Chinese Taipei between February 1 and 11, 2018.

Iran has been drawn with China, Iraq and Myanmar in Group C of the upcoming continental sports event.

The host nation, Bahrain, Malaysia and Vietnam form Group A in the preliminary round of the tournament.

Japan is drawn in Group B, and is pitted against South Korea, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Group D consists of Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon and Thailand. Enditem