Iran victorious in Indonesia [VIDEO]
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PFDC – JAKARTA, A confident first half and a rather weak performance in the second half was enough for the Iranian football national team to defeat the Indonesian counterpart 4-1 in the 2014 World Cup qualifier in Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon.
Iran played in a 4-3-3 formation with three changes compared to the qualifier against Bahrain on last Friday. Mes Kerman player Mehrdad Pouladi was replaced by Ehsan Hajsafi due to an injury. Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari was forced to watch the kick-off as a benchwarmer due to a weak performance against Bahrain. The technically adepted midfielder was replaced by Milad Meydavoudi. Finally, Karim Ansarifard had to make space for Mohammad Ghazi in central attack.
The Iranian football national team started to put pressure on the bottom team from the beginning and it was Osasuna’s Javad Nekounam who could have scored the opener for Iran in the first minute but his shot barely missed the goal.
Iran had a good opportunity to take the lead after three minutes, Perspolis striker Gholamreza Rezaei’s shot was saved by the Indonesian goalkeeper.
Esteghlal striker Milad Meydavoudi profited from a blunder by the Indonesian central defense and finally broke a tie in the seventh minute with an unsaveable shot into the left corner.
Iran’s offensive section shined again as Rezaei played the ball to Zob Ahan striker Mohammad Ghazi who fooled the goalkeeper and passed the ball sideways into the penalty area where Esteghlal midfielder Jabbari waited to put the ball into an empty goal (17′).
The Indonesian football team seemed to be helpless as Iran managed to increase the lead by another goal in the 25th minute. Rezaei made the most of another terrible blunder by the goalie and scored the third goal from a sharp angle.
Iran could have scored the fourth goal by a Meydavoudi header but surprisingly it was the host who scored the goal which left the scoring side two down (42′). Left fullback Hajsafi and centre-back Jalal Hosseini seemed to be absent-minded as Indonesia could easily play a cross to the Indonesian striker who found Indonesia captain Pamungkas unmarked. The midfielder scored from close range with a nice header.
In the second half of the qualifier the Iranians seemed to be tired and without an unconditioned desire to increase the lead while the Indonesians acted like a toothless opponent.
Queiroz reacted to a weakened performance of his men and subbed in Maziar Zare (63′) and Khalatbari (69′) for Andranik Teymourian and Meydavoudi. Especially Khalatbari’s substitution was like pure gold for Iran’s offensive efforts.
The technically gifted midfielder was fouled within the penalty area. Iran captain Nekounam took over responsibility and finally scored the final result from the penalty spot (73′).
A brilliant interaction between Hajsafi and Khalatbari could have ended in Iran’s fifth goal but the Qatar legionnaire barely missed the goal (89′).
Iran claim the top of the group with 11 points after 5 matches still being undefeated. Iran’s final qualifer will be against Qatar in Tehran.
Runner-ups Qatar will face third-placed Bahrain in Doha tonight.
Indonesia – IRAN 1-4 (1-3)
2014 World Cup qualifier, Jakarta
IRAN: Rahmati – Mahini, Aghili, Hosseini, Hajsafi – Teymourian (62’Maziar Zare), Nekounam, Jabbari – Gh. Rezaei (46’Kazemian), Ghazi, Meydavoudi (69′ Khalatbari)
Goals:
0-1 Meydavoudi (7′ / assist by Jabbari)
0-2 Jabbari (17′ / Ghazi)
0-3 Gh. Rezaei (25′)
1-4 Nekounam (73′ / penalty / foul on Khalatbari)
Bookings:
Gh. Rezaei, Kazemian
