The Qantas Australian Men’s Beach Football Team have been defeated 1-3 by Iran in their opening match of FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009 Asian Qualifiers in Dubai.

The Qantas Australian Men’s Beach Football Team started well and the match was scoreless in the first period.

In the second period Iran was too strong for the Qantas Australian Men’s Beach Football Team, scoring three goals in succession, before Michael Matricciani pulled a goal back late in the third.

The final period of time was again goalless, which resulted in Iran recording their first win of the tournament and leaving the Qantas Australian Men’s Beach Football Team in need of a win in their next match to give themselves any hope of progressing to the semi-finals stage.

In the other Group B match, Oman defeated China PR 2-1, whilst in Group A, Bahrain were 2-1 winners against Uzbekistan.

The Qantas Australian Men’s Beach Football Team will face China PR in their next group match today (Sunday) and then line up against Oman on Monday (All kick-off times 3:00pm local, 10:00pm AEDT).

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009 Asian Qualifiers are being played in Dubai from 7 to 11 November 2009, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the semi-finals phase, with the winners of the semi-finals advancing to the final and will also qualify for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009.

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009 will be played in Dubai from 16 to 22 November 2009 and involves 16 nations including United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Uruguay, Solomon Islands, Spain, Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, Russia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Nigeria and Switzerland.

Click here to see the match details and stats.