AFC U-22 C’ship: Iran 0-1 Australia

AFC – MUSCAT, A goal from Petros Skapetis put Australia into the quarter-finals of the AFC U-22 Championship with a 1-0 victory over Iran in Group C at Royal Police Stadium on Tuesday.

The Australian forward latched on to a loose ball on the 56th minute and fired home after Iranian goalkeeper Ali Reza Beiranvand could only parry defender Curtis Good’s header following a corner kick.

And although Iran threw on two more forwards in an attempt to restore parity, they were unable to breakdown a very organised Australian side, who might have scored again through midfielder Stefan Mauk in the final minutes of the match.

“We knew it would be a hard and physical game but I’m happy with the performance of my players” said Australia coach Aurelio Vidmar.

“We need to get a bit more composure, especially through the midfield, as the game got very stretched at times. But overall, I’m very pleased.”

While Iran welcomed back defender Vahid Esmaeilbeigi and midfielder Morteza Pouraliganji to the side from suspension, Australia coach Vidmar swapped almost his entire starting line-up from the 11 that began the 1-0 over Kuwait on Sunday.

“Every team has the same amount of players, our philosophy is to give everyone an opportunity.

“we wanted everyone to each get a full game, and we’ve achieved that so far,” explained Vidmar.

“There’s no first team or second team, I’m just trying to build one team.”

In a tight first half with chances at a premium, one of Vidmar’s changes, striker Adam Taggart, had his side’s first effort on goal inside the first 10 minutes as his free-kick from just outside the penalty area went narrowly over the crossbar.

Taggart was the most likely source of a breakthrough for Australia in the first period and on the 23rd minute he sent another curling shot drifted wide.

In between those strikes by the Australia forward, Mehdi Shiri went close for Iran with a deflected effort that goalkeeper Aaron Lennox pushed out, and a swerving long range effort that was just off target.

Australia came out fired up for the second half, however, and in the first minute after the restart Andrew Hoole’s penetrating run down the right side was followed by a shot from the right winger that needed to be punched clear by an alert Beiranvand at his near post.

Centre-back Good was then forced to leave the field for treatment to a nasty gash above his eye following a clash of heads, and with the big centre-back off the field, Iran had their best chance to open the scoring as Kaveh Rezaei slipped in Benham Barzay for a low shot from inside the penalty area that was parried wide by Lennox in the Australia goal.

But with Good back on the field sporting a mass of white gauzing around his injured forehead, it was Australia who took the lead.

Awarded a free-kick in a central area on the 55th minute, Hoole skimmed a low shot off the turf that was pushed out for a corner by the Iranian custodian.

But from the resulting set-piece, a hurtling blur of bandages in the form of Good powered a header on target that Beiranvand could only parry as far as the waiting Skapetis, who hooked the ball into the gaping net.

In a bid to seek an equaliser, Iran brought on strikers Arsalan Motahhari and Seyed Miri and it was the former who had his side’s best chance with a low shot into the arms of a sprawling Lennox following good work from Rezaei.

Australia dominated possession for the remains of the second half, although Motahhari had time for another effort at the death but this time his shot from the edge of the penalty area went wide of Lennox’s right-hand post.

With a lengthy seven minutes of stoppage time added due to Good’s extended treatment, Maulk could have put the game to bed, but a good save from Beiranvand prevented the second half substitute from doubling the advantage.

“It was a physically demanding game and we can say a game of small differences. Australia is a great team, very organised with a fighting spirit,” said Iran coach Human Afazeli.

“A big difference was that Australia used almost 11 new players, and we couldn’t do that as we have only 20 players in our squad and three of them are goalkeepers.

“I want to praise my players, they showed fantastic effort. I am satisfied with their efforts, they did a good job.”