Muscat: Oman’s winning streak that saw them march into the semi-finals of the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup was finally halted on Saturday as they went down fighting to Iran 6-3 in the Thai city of Pattaya on Saturday.
In a hard-fought semi-final match, Iran overcame stiff resistance from the 2015 Asian champions before prevailing to set up a title clash with defending champions Japan on Sunday.
Japan were dominant in their 5-1 win over the UAE in the other semi-final match.
Earlier, Oman along with three other semi-finalists, qualified as the top-four teams for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, which will be held in the UAE in November.
It will be Oman’s fifth appearance in the Beach Soccer World Cup and the third in a row, having participated in 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2021 editions.
On Saturday, it was a highly charged encounter between Talib Hilal-coached Oman and Iran, coached by Ali…
