Ebrahimzadeh dignified in defeat

AFC – TOKYO, Zob Ahan coach Mansour Ebrahimzadeh praised the effort of his players after the Iranian side fell just short of completing a dream debut appearance in the AFC Champions League following a 3-1 defeat to Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma Tokyo’s National Stadium on Saturday.

Little was expected of the West Asians when the tournament got underway earlier this year but they have certainly surprised many by claiming the formidable scalps of former champions Pohang Steelers and Al Ittihad as well as Saudi giants Al Hilal in the semi-final.

Zob Ahan started well against Seongnam but set-pieces proved their undoing as they failed to deal with a Kim Sung-hwan throw to allow Sasa Ognenovski to open the scoring midway through the first half before Cho Byung-kuk added a second from a corner in the 52nd minute.

Still they fought hard and Mohammadreza Khalatbari pulled a goal back just after the hour to threaten a late fight back.

However, Kim Cheol-ho put the game beyond them eight minutes from time and leave Zob Ahan to make the long journey home empty handed.

But despite the defeat, Ebrahimzadeh had nothing but positive things to say about the performance of his players, who he believes have now firmly put Zob Ahan on the map.

“They played very well with very good football but unfortunately we made simple mistakes,” said the 54-year-old, pictured congratulating victorious Seongnam coach Shin Tae-yong.

“We came very close to achieving our goal but we did not make it. Life goes on and we will continue to give our best effort. We will challenge ourselves and aim not to make the same mistakes again.

“When we first joined the AFC Champions League nobody imagined we would get this far but now we are runners-up and I think people know about us now.

“I will tell my players they played very well.”

The defeat means Zob Ahan’s focus now switches to domestic matters with the Esfahan-based side top of the Iran Pro League and Ebrahimzadeh urged his players to start anew and learn from the mistakes they made against Seongnam.

“We conceded goals (against Seongnam) in a disappointing way,” he added.

“We have some issues and challenges and we should do better in the future. They have to learn lessons from this game.

“Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives and we will go back to Iran and look to do well in the Iranian League.”