Former Iran coach calls draw with Vietnam futsal shameful!

On Iran's Fut5al page , female strategist Shahnaz Yari, former coach of Iran's women's futsal team, called the national team's draw with Vietnam "a shameful performance".

"The Iranian women's futsal team had a very bad performance when facing the Vietnamese team at the 2025 Asian Cup. This was a match that disrespected the audience. This match had no sportsmanship and martial spirit."

Ms. Yari criticized Iran for deliberately underperforming to avoid Thailand in the quarterfinals and said that the coaching staff had made mistakes in their playing strategy. She emphasized that futsal is a sport that emphasizes fighting spirit, and that playing without effort with fake shots or intentionally wrong passes has overshadowed the true spirit of sportsmanship.

Former Iran women's futsal team coach Shahnaz Yari

"I don't understand what the coaching staff was thinking. We can prove to the whole of Asia that we are the leading flag of women's futsal. Other teams should be afraid of us. Why do we lower ourselves just to avoid meeting Thailand or Japan, and not let the players play a real match but instead perform a fake play?" - the Iranian female strategist was upset.

She also fears that this action could lead to Iran being complained by other teams and receiving punishment from the AFC.

In the two wins against the two remaining opponents, she commented that the Philippines played well organized, while Hong Kong (China) was too weak. However, she emphasized once again that the game situation when facing Vietnam was due to the coaching staff's instructions, not the players' performance.

Iran's draw with Vietnam (right) was criticized by Ms. Yari

As a former national team coach and futsal enthusiast, Ms. Yari also expressed that if she had a position in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), she would ensure that no team would be allowed to destroy the noble spirit of sportsmanship.

The female strategist also mentioned a similar situation at the 2024 Futsal World Cup, where France and Iran were suspected of playing less aggressively to avoid meeting strong opponents.

She believes that lessons need to be learned from those mistakes, because although Iran avoided the draw with Brazil and Russia, they still had to stop at the quarter-finals.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/cuu-hlv-iran-goi-tran-hoa-voi-futsal-viet-nam-la-dang-xau-ho-196250512195429024.htm