Iran blanks UAE 5-0 in AFC U-16 Women’s Championship

PressTV – BANGKOK, Iran’s national under-16 football team has sealed another dramatic victory at the preliminary round of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 Women’s Championship 2017 Qualifiers, trouncing the United Arab Emirates contingent.

The Iranian juniors, who subdued Kyrgyzstan 9-0 in their second match of the event on August 29, routed their Emirati counterparts 5-0 in a Group C match played at Bangabandhu National Stadium in the Bangladeshi capital city of Dhaka on Wednesday.

The Persians placed the United Arab Emirates goal under pressure since the start of the match, and forward Fatemeh Ghasemi netted the opener for the Iranian team in the 23rd minute.

Two minutes later, midfielder Roghayeh Jalal Nasab struck the second goal for Iran.

Ghasemi scored a brace and tripled Iran’s lead in the 37th minute, and the young Iranian sportswomen went into the breather with a three-goal lead.

Iran’s under-16 football outfit kept its momentum after it returned to action. Ghasemi took advantage of a marvelous opportunity in the 83rd minute and put the ball into the back of the net to make it four for Iran.

In the third minute of time added-on, midfielder Marzieh Feizi tacked Iran’s last goal to snatch a 5-0 win.

Iran’s national under-16 football team is pitted against Chinese Taipei, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan and Singapore in Group C of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2017 Qualifiers.

Thailand, Myanmar, Jordan, Guam and Laos form Group A. Group B consists of South Korea, India, the Philippines, Malaysia and Northern Mariana Islands.

Uzbekistan, Australia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Palestine and Iraq are drawn in Group D.

Each group will play a one-round league. The winner from each group (total four teams) will qualify to the finals (eight teams in total).

If Thailand finish top of their group in the qualifiers, the second-placed team from the same group will also qualify to the final competition.