10-man Iran beat Greece to claim fifth place in Granatkin Cup

Persianfootball.com – SAINT PETERSBURG, Iran concluded the Valentin Granatkin u-18 tournament with a 3-2 win over Greece, thus claiming the fifth position out of the 16 participating nations after winning four out of five matches.

Fathian, Bazaj and and Sohrabian gave Iran a comfortable 3-0 halftime lead, but two blunders from defender Hosseini early in second half – the second resulting in his expulsion and a penalty kick – put Iran’s win in danger.

However, Ali Doustimehr’s men held on to the narrow lead to only finish behind Russia, Japan, Turkey and Slovakia.

Iran participated three times before, finishing third, fourth and eighth.

This year, Belarus, Finland, Slovenia and Greece were defeated while the Iranian youngsters had only lost their final group game versus Slovakia 1-2.