As part of FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 Asian Qualifiers Final Round, the Iranian National Football team pulled out a 1-nill victory against Chinese rivals. The sweet victory left Carlos Queiroz’s men within touching distance of automatic qualification.
Iran’s football squad in the face of China comprised Alireza Biranvand, Morteza Pouraliganji, Pejman Montazeri, Masoud Shojaei, Millad Mohammadi, Saeid Ezatollahi, Omid Ebrahimi, Voria Ghafouri (Ramin Rezaeian 79’), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Vahid Amiri 88’), Mehdi Taremi and Reza Ghouchannejad (Sardar Azmoun 71’).
Despite several great opportunities in the first half of the match, the Persians committed various technical mistakes as the first 45 minutes ended in a scoreless draw. Iran’s improved performance in final minutes of the opening half led to a number of valuable chances which were blocked by the Chinese goalkeeper.
Early minutes of the second half brought about a decisive goal for the Iranian side. Mehdi Taremi scored the only goal of the game in the 47th minute as unbeaten Iran secured a 1-0 win over China in Tehran on Tuesday.
Later, national footballers maintained the result to win the match and increase the number of their points to a total of 17 and open up a four-point lead over second-placed Korea Republic.
Previously, China kept their FIFA World Cup dream alive as Yu Dabao’s solitary goal claimed a shocking 1-0 victory against Korea Republic to give Marcelo Lippi’s team their first victory in Group A.
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