In Group A, Bahrain made a winning start with two beautiful goals over Uzbekistan as hosts UAE asserted their supremacy over Japan with a well deserved 4-2 victory in their warm-up clash.

The tournament is being organised by the Dubai Sports Council.

Iran are favourites to book one of the two seats reserved for Asia in the upcoming FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, to be held in Dubai from November 16.

Iranian player Faroogh drew first blood for his side in the opening two minutes of the second period before Mohammed doubled the score-line three minutes later. The Iranians went for a clear cut 3-0 lead in 10^th minute, but Michael reduced the deficit for the Australians less than a minute later.

Iran’s top official, Ali Reza Pasandideh, said: “We didn’t have our strongest team out there today so we are very pleased with the win. Iran is a very strong team and we believe we will finish at the top of the group and qualify for the World Cup.”

Australian Coach Airton Andrioli commented: “We are obviously disappointed with the result but we still have two more games that we are hoping to win. We conceded the goals in the second period of the game. If you look at the way Iran play, they just look like they are born on the sand.”

In another clash, Asian Beach Games Champions Oman registered their first win following their 2-1 victory over China. This is the first time Oman are taking part in World Cup qualifiers and it appears the team is heading in the right direction to qualify for the World Cup.

China scored in the final two minutes of the first period when captain Gui Q X scored, giving his team the early lead. Oman hit back in the second period with a goal from Yahaya Al Araimi, with just one second remaining and the winning goal came in the final three minutes of the game when Mohammed Al Mukhaini scored to give his team the first points of the group.

Oman Coach Talib Al Thanwani said: “We are pleased to have won our first match but this is just the beginning for us.

“The boys did well and we hope to improve once the tournament continues.”

Today’s fixtures:

2:45pm Iran v China; 3pm Oman v Australia; 4pm Japan v Uzbekistan; 4pm Bahrain v UAE (Friendly match).

hisham@khaleejtimes.com