Referee’s decision went against us: Alireza Jahanbakhsh

TT – TEHRAN,  Iran national football team captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh says that they could have won the match against Uzbekistan but the referee’s decision went against their team.

Uzbekistan and Iran settled for a goalless draw in their AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to 26 Group A tie on Thursday.

The Central Asian derby saw Iran going down to 10 men in the second half following Saleh Hardani’s sending off but there was to be no winner in the evenly-matched contest as the two sides moved up to seven points.

Australian referee Shaun Evans referred to the pitchside monitor, which led to a straight red card for Hardani for a challenge on Eldor Shomurodov in the 57th minute.

“I think it was a correct decision. Hardani had to leave the field. But I don’t know why the referee reversed his decision in the added time. It was a handball and we were awarded a penalty.

“We wanted to win the match but I think the draw is not a bad result for us since we played with 10 men for about 40 minutes,” Jahanbakhsh added.

“Now, we just think about the match against Qatar. It was better to face them in Iran but the AFC has confirmed that the match will be held in Dubai. Anyway, we will travel to Dubai and are determined to win the match,” he concluded.

Uzbekistan will host the United Arab Emirates next on Tuesday while Iran will meet Qatar.