Lebanon frustrated the nine time champions in the first half with Hassan Chaito’s 11th minute strike giving Dory’s Zakhour’s side hope after Mohammad Keshavarz Nasrabadi and Mohammad Hashemzadeh had put Iran seemingly in control.

But goals from Masoud Daneshvar and Mostafa Tayyebi handed Iran a three-goal cushion at the break before Mohammadreza Zahmatkesh, Daneshvar and Mohammad Taheri secured a fourth consecutive win for the Group B winners and a place in Friday’s semi-finals.

“At the start of the match Lebanon were able to pressure us and this created a lot of difficulties for us. We had to change our tactics and look at our approach to the game,” said Shams.

“Thankfully, we have succeeded as shown by the result.”

Lebanon coach Zakhour was delighted with the start from the Group A runners-up A, but conceded his side were no match for Iran, who also beat Lebanon at the same stage two years ago.

“We were able to reach the quarter-finals and that is a good result for a team who only had 20 days to prepare for the Asian championships," he said.

“Iran are future champions, fighting with them is impossible. We started very well, but we ended up suffering a big defeat.

“The main reason for our defeat is that we lack physical strength which is very important in futsal.”