Iran advanced to the semifinals after defeating Kyrgyzstan 7-0 on Wednesday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Team Melli will face Vietnam, who defeated defending champion Japan, on Friday.
“Our main target from the start was to win this championship so as I have kept saying, we must keep going step-by-step,” said Nazelmalsharia.
“In the first half we said we must share our energy and not keep our main players on the pitch for such long periods. The only thing we were doing was taking advantage of the mistakes the opposition made. We now have to focus on the next game because the real work begins from this moment.”
High-scoring wins over Jordan, China and Iraq saw Iran qualify for the quarter-final with maximum points before Wednesday’s win over Kyrgyzstan, the-afc wrote.
And the 10-time champion has never failed to reach the semi-final of the AFC Futsal Championship, but Iran are chasing a first title since 2010 after falling short in the two previous editions.
“It was a very technical game, but I am very happy we have the strength to share the goals around between the players,” added Nazelmalsharia.
“We believe it is our right to be champion and that is the reason we came here," he concluded.