Iran victorious in Armenia [VIDEO + PHOTOS]

Afshin Ghotbi arranged his team in a 4-3-3 formation, relying on a rather defensive minded midfield with skipper Javad Nekounam, Farzad Ashoubi and Pejman Nouri and surprisingly on Ghasem Hadadifar of Zob Ahan as left forward.

In a game with many blunders and unforced errors on either side, both teams had a couple of chances, mostly with shots from outside the area.

Karim Ansarifard alsmost broke the deadlock 18 minutes into the game, when a turnover in Armenia’s defense created an opening for the youngster, but his good shot after a nice dribbling came off the inner side of the goalpost.

Armenia took the lead slightly against the run of play five minutes before halftime, thanks to a mishit cross from the left side by Aghvan Mkrtychyan which found it’s way into the net via the goalpost.

Rahmati and Aghily the heroes

The homeside could haved doubled the lead when they were awarded a penalty kick shortly after the restart after Hadi Aghily failed to clear a simple ball away and Khosro Heydari had brought down an opponent, but Mehdi Rahmati saved Edgar Manoucharyan’s rather weak penalty kick.

Short time later, a thunderous shot could be deflected to the crossbar by Rahmati, who kept Iran in the game at this point. The following corner was headed just inches wide and within a few minutes again Rahmati denied Armenia a bigger lead, by stopping two good efforts from close range.

However, a great Iman Mobali shot from far out troubled the goalkeeper and won Iran a corner kick, which eventually led to the equalizer in minute 67.

Aghily headed the ball into the net after Nekounam had headed the ball towards the central defender, who’s effort bounced off the crossbar and fell down behind the line.

In minute 71 Iran took the lead in similar fashion to Armenia’s goal, when a cross by leftback Nosrati accidently found it’s way into the net.

The already booked Nekounam should have known better than to repeatedly complain about the refereeing and so he crowned his disappointing performance with a red card, ten minutes from time.

But Iran did well with only ten men and even were the more dangerous side in the last minutes of the game and finally added a third goal deep into injury time.

A blunder in Armenia’s defense allowed Hadi Norouzi to break through the defense and got past the goalkeeper, who could only stop the substitute striker with a foul. Aghily stepped up and converted with ease to make it 3-1 Iran with his second goal of the day.

Armenia – Iran 1-3 (1-0)

Friendly Match, Yerevan

Goals:
1-0 Mkrtychyan (40′)
1-1 Aghily (67′ / Assist by Nekounam)
1-2 Nosrati (71′ / Zanidpour)
1-3 Aghily (95′ / Penalty / Foul on Norouzi)

Suspension: Nekounam (80′ / second booking)

Iran’s lineup: Rahmati – Heydari (81′ M. Hosseini), Aghily, Hosseini, Ashjari (46′ Nosrati) – Ashoubi (46′ Mobali) , Nekounam, P. Nouri – Rezaei (90′ Aliasgar), Ansarifard (76′ Norouzi), Hadadifar (46′ Zanidpour)