Afghanistan began the men’s Youth Olympic futsal tournament at Dakar 2026 with a 5–0 win over Panama on 2 November. FIFA’s opening-day report also recorded victories for Argentina, Paraguay and Portugal across the two groups.
Group A: early momentum and a home setback
Reza Karimi put Afghanistan ahead inside the first minute, with Farhad Nazari scoring from a rebound soon afterwards. Hussain Hassani, Ali Ahmadi and Mohammad Akbari completed a performance that combined five goals with a clean sheet.
Hosts Senegal lost 9–2 to Argentina in the other Group A game. Enzo Lopez and Valentino Martinez were prominent in Argentina’s attack, while Saliou Camara and Mamadou Diagne scored for Senegal. Coach Balla Balde attributed part of the difference to Argentina’s experience and said his team needed to correct mistakes during its remaining group matches.
Group B: Paraguay’s family connection
Paraguay beat Solomon Islands 9–2 after Oliver Sandoval scored just 15 seconds into the game. Julio Caceres and Juan Rambo each scored twice, while Emmanuel Suimae supplied both Solomon Islands goals.
Octavio Caceres also scored for Paraguay. In a separate FIFA interview, he described learning from his older cousins Javier Salas, Juan Gomez Salas and Emerson Mendez Salas, all of whom have represented Paraguay at senior Futsal World Cups. Their experience provides a family backdrop to his own Youth Olympic campaign.
Portugal defeated Morocco 4–1 through two goals apiece from Santiago Monteiro and Diego Ferreira. Goalkeeper Bernardo Borges also made important stops as Morocco sought a route back into the contest.
Caceres identified Portugal and Morocco as Paraguay’s remaining group opponents. Those meetings are the next measure of whether the opening attacking performance can be sustained against different opposition.