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AFC – ISFAHAN, Tasisat Daryaei became the first Iranian club since 2012 to win the AFC Futsal Club Championship, handing Qadsia a 5-4 defeat to claim the continental title at the Nagshe Jahan Stadium on Friday.

Asghar Hassanzadeh scored twice and there were single strikes from Ghodrat Bahadori, Reza Sangsefidi and Vahid Shamsaee as the Tehran side claimed the title.

Hamad Hayat and Abdulrahman Alwadi, also with a brace, were on target for the Kuwaiti club while Abdulrahman Altawail’s late goal made for a nervous finish for the home team.

Tasisat had controlled proceedings for much of the game but were forced to survive the loss of Sangsefidi, who was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 30th minute.

Tasisat had cruised to victory when the teams met in the group stages, the Iranians securing a 9-2 win, but with an additional week of match conditioning under their belt, Qadsia were a stronger proposition in the final.

Despite Qadsia’s improvement, however, it was Tasisat who took the lead after just two minutes when the ball was worked out to the left to Hassanzadeh and he smashed his effort into the corner.

But it wasn’t long before Qadsia were testing second string Tasisat goalkeeper Mehdi Mostafaei, who took over between the posts from the suspended Mostafa Nazari. Alwadi set his sights on goal from just inside the Tasisat half in the fifth minute, but Mostafaei pushed the ball away for a corner.

There was a similar outcome at the other end a minute later when Mohammad Zarei tried his luck, but a further minute later the Iranians doubled their lead, Shamsaee clipping his pass through to Bahadori, whose left foot shot from distance speared into the top corner.

Qadsia refused to be overawed and continued to push forward, with Alwadi hitting the post in the 11th minute as Fabio Cortez’s team fought for a foothold in the game.

With their two-goal cushion, though, Tasisat were content to play out the half as best they could, using the power play to control possession and run down the clock, depriving the Kuwaitis of the opportunity to put themselves on the scoreboard.

Two minutes after the restart, Sangsefidi scored Tasisat’s third when he sprinted onto Hassanzadeh’s pass through the legs of the defender but less than a minute later the Kuwaitis struck when Hayat netted from close range.

Sangsefidi then picked up his first booking for simulation and, within seconds was given his marching orders by referee Tomohiro Kozaki from Japan for disputing the initial call too vociferously.

A man up for two minutes, Qadsia had the opportunity to pull themselves back into the game and, just before the end of their advantage, Rafael thought he had scored only for Mostafaei to somehow keep the close-range effort from crossing the line.

Qadsia grew increasingly desperate and, while on a power play, conceded a fourth when Shamsaee intercepted the ball in his own half before turning quickly to slot the ball into the unguarded net from distance, but Alwadi’s powerful strike from the right a minute later kept the Kuwaitis in with a chance.

Hassanzadeh’s second of the game, two minutes from time, was a carbon copy of Shamsaee’s goal, only for Alwadi’s second to cancel that out almost immediately and Altawail’s goal inside the final minute provided a thrilling finish.