Chamanian hails Iran’s superb second-half performance

Allahyar Sayyad gave Iran the lead just before the 30-minute mark at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, before Mohammad Ghaderi added a second shortly after the restart.

Substitute Alireza Asadabadi and Amir Khodamoradi notched further goals and Sayyad’s second of the afternoon rounded off the scoring as Iran progressed to the last four and with it secured their passage to the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India.

“Vietnam were the better team in the first 20 minutes, forced us back and had chances to score, but after that we began to control the game,” said Chamanian.

“The first goal for us was very important, but after the substitution at half-time we were able to put on a much better performance.

“We identified our players after the 2014 tournament in Thailand and we have worked hard to get here. We are very, very happy with this result.”

Iran began the continental tournament with a thrilling 3-2 win over Saudi Arabia before a 1-1 draw with United Arab Emirates was followed by a 3-0 scoreline over India as Chamanian’s team ousted the hosts.

The Iranians now return to the semi-finals for the first time since 2012 after penalty shootout elimination at the hands of eventual winners DPR Korea in 2014.

“When we came to India our first goal was to reach the semi-finals and qualify for the World Cup,” added Chamanian.

“Today everyone worked very hard for the result. The players had a lot of responsibility as they knew how important this game was.

“We will now prepare for the next match and will absolutely keep trying to get even better.”

Vietnam were competing in only their second ever quarter-final at the AFC U-16 event but were unable to match the feat of the class of 2000, who reached the semi-finals in their maiden appearance.

REPORT: Iran 5-0 Vietnam

“We lost the match but we must accept this result because Iran are a very strong team,” said coach Dinh The Nam. “They are fitter, faster and taller and today our players couldn’t keep up with them.

“It was a pity we couldn’t score in the first half because in the first 30 minutes we were very good. After that our formation didn’t stick and we made some mistakes.”

After a 7-0 opening-day drubbing at the hands of Japan, Vietnam twice fought back from behind to claim 3-2 and 3-1 scorelines against Australia and Kyrgyzstan respectively.

But the Southeast Asians were unable to pull off yet another comeback victory as Iran proved too strong in the second half.

“We came back before but Iran are a completely different opponent, much stronger than Australia and Kyrgyzstan, so we couldn’t do it again. When the second goal went in our spirit went down,” added The Nam.

“The biggest target from this tournament was to gain experience. The level is much higher at AFC competitions and my players have learnt a lot.”

Photo: AFC