Publish Date: 9 November 2016 - 09:11

TEHRAN, Nov. 09 (MNA) – National Iranian junior football squad opened South Korea’s U-19 Football Tournament 2016 with a loss to host rivals.

The Iranian squad, who faced the South Korean outfit on Tuesday, failed to gain the upper hand and conceded a 1-3 defeat in their first encounter at the sportive event.

Iran’s only goal was scored by Reza Jafar 61 minutes into the match while the opposite side managed to net three goals in penalty shootouts.

Nima Mirzazad, Amirhossein Amirtaheri, Aref Gholami, Nima Taheri, Abolfazl Razaghpour, Mohammad Soltanimehr (replaced with Sina Khadempour), Reza Shekari, Mahdi Mahdikhani (replaced with Najarian), Ali Taheran, Hossein Saki (replaced with Ali Shojei) and Reza Jafari played for the Persian side.

South Korea’s U-19 Football Tournament 2016 marks a preparatory stage for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 and will be attended by South Korea, Nigeria and England.

The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup will be the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup and will be hosted by South Korea between 20 May and 11 June 2017.

HA/3818962