Iran faced Indonesia behind closed doors, away from the eyes of fans and media at the Al-Ryan Club stadium, in the last preparation game before the start of the Asian Nations Cup.
The Indonesian team, which is grouped with Iraq, the Philippines, and Vietnam in the AFC Cup used three Russian and one Portuguese players while facing Iran’s national team.
The Iranian team in the first half went to the field with Hossein Hosseini (goalkeeper), Majid Hosseini, Shoja Khalilzadeh, Aria Yousefi, Ehsan Hajisafi, Rozbeh Cheshmi, Saman Ghoddos, Reza Asadi, Mehdi Torabi, Ali Jahanbakhsh and Shahriar Moghanlou.
A minor injury led to the exit of Majid Hosseini from the field but the team’s coach Amir Ghalenoei, avoided bringing another player to put more pressure on the other side rather he chose to test the national team with one player less.
Despite the team continuing with 10 players from the 35th minute until the end of the first half, it had a 3-0 advantage over Indonesia with the goals of Saman Ghoddos, Rouzbeh Cheshmi, and Shahriar Moghanlou.
In the second half, Ghalenoei started with a complete change of composition, with the Iranian squad now being Payam Niazmand, Hossein Kanaanizadegan, Saman Fallah, Milad Mohammadi, Sadegh Moharrami, Saeed Ezzatollahi, Omid Ebrahimi, Ali Gholizadeh, Mehdi Ghaedi, Mehdi Taremi and Karim Ansarifard.
Ghaedi scored two goals in the 70th and 87th minutes to finally defeat Indonesia 5-0 and get ready to participate in the Asia Cup.
This was the 11th victory for Iran’s national team out of 13 games it played with other countries since Ghalenoei was appointed as the head coach. Iran's 2 other matches under the guidance of Ghalenoei against Russia and Uzbekistan ended in a draw.
Pejman Montazeri, a former Iranian national team player who lives in Qatar, went to the Al-Ryan club stadium to closely watch the performance of his former teammates.
The 2023 Nations Cup will begin on January 12 when the host and reigning champions Qatar take on Lebanon in the opening match at the iconic Lusail Stadium. Prior to the match, the opening ceremony will commence at 5 pm.
Iran's team is in group C with the UAE, Hong Kong and Palestine. Amir Ghalenoei’s men will kick off their first continental tournament against Palestine on January 14.
MP/IRN