TEHRAN, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- The head coach of Iran national beach soccer team, Marco Octavio, said that they will participate in the Asian championship with the aim of booking a place in the FIFA beach soccer World Cup, Tehran Times daily reported on Saturday.
Iran have been drawn in Group D along with Oman and Iraq in the 2019 AFC Beach Soccer Championship Thailand.
The second edition of the premier beach soccer championship in Asia will be an important competition as the top three teams will represent the Continent in the 2019 FIFA beach soccer World Cup in Paraguay.
The AFC Beach Soccer Championship Thailand 2019 will be played in Pattaya from March 9 to 17, 2019.
"Without a doubt, we have an excellent team in the Asian championship. We've found 86 new players across the country and they took part in our training camps. It's very important having young players for the future," Octavio said.
"Now, we are focusing on the Asian championship because we want to qualify for the 2019 World Cup. However, we know that Team Melli (Iranian team) have a difficult task ahead in Thailand. But we are well-prepared and our main goal is winning one of the three places. Iraq are a strong team and we don't take anything for granted in Thailand," the Brazilian coach concluded.
