Iran qualified for 2012 AFC U-19 C’ship [VIDEO]

PTV – TEHRAN, The Iranian national youth team has thrashed Pakistan at the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers and booked a place in the tournament.

The Iranian squad beat Pakistan 5-0 at Tehran’s Takhti stadium on Sunday, and stood on top of the Group C with nine points.

Ahmad Eskandari opened the scoring two minutes into the match, and Ali-Reza Jahanbakhsh extended the lead from the penalty spot in the seventh minute before Behnam Barzaei scored Iran’s third in the 15th minute.

Jahanbakhsh gave Iran a four-goal cushion three minutes after the hour mark and Amir-Reza Zare’ increased Iran’s tally to five to clinch the victory.

Earlier in the day, Uzbekistan defeated Turkmenistan 2-1 to stand second in the table on goal difference.

Iran defeated India 3-0 and beat Turkmenistan 4-0 last week.

India and Turkmenistan both with three points and Pakistan with no point have no chance of qualifying to the 37th edition of the tournament.

The Iranian outfit will next take on Uzbekistan on Tuesday.

Iran is hosting the championship’s preliminary matches in Group C.

Twenty-three teams from West Asia and 16 teams from East Asia are divided into seven groups of six and five teams for the qualification for the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship.

West Zone has three groups of six and one of five teams while East has one group of six and two groups of five. Top two teams from each group and third best teams from West and East zones will qualify for the tournament.