Iran defeats Qatar in AFC U-16 Championship [VIDEO]
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Loading...Tehran Times – TEHRAN, The Iranian football team defeated Qatar 3-2 on Sunday in a highly-entertaining Group D opener of the 2014 AFC U-16 Championship at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand.
Hassan Ahmad opened Iran’s goal just after four minutes but Reza Karimi levelled the match in the 22nd minute.
Reza Shekari put the Iranian team ahead in the 48th minute.
Ahmad did level the scores in the 59th minute, but 2008 champion Iran quickly responded through Shekari’s second to claim all three points despite the dismissal of defender Nima Daghestani with 20 minutes remaining.
“The first match in any tournament is important. In the first minutes we could not play well and could not perform due to a lack of concentration, but as time passed, we became the dominant team,” Iran coach Mostafa Ghanbarpour, who must now turn his attentions to Tuesday’s meeting with Saudi Arabia, was quoted as saying by the-afc.com.
“By shifting the positions of the players on the field we could score the second goal, and by increasing the pressure, we could score the third goal.
“The sending off of our central defender created a lot of pressure on us, but even though it was not a beautiful match, we were able to get the three points,” he added.
