As part of preparations for the 2018 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup, national football teams of Iran and Russia held a friendly match on Tuesday evening in the Russian city of Kazan.
The Iranian squad comprised Alireza Biranvand, Seyed Jalal Hosseini, Morteza Pouraliganji, Vouria Ghafouri, Ehsan Hajsafi, Omid Ebrahimi, Saeid Ezatollahi, Vahid Amir, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Mehdi Taremi and Sardar Azmoun. In the second half, however, some players were replaced with Rouzbeh Cheshmi, Saman Ghddos, Ahmad Abdollahzadeh and Akbar Imani.
Although no goals were scored in the first half, the Russian side fairly had the upper hand. Meanwhile, it was Iran who was looking for a chance to find the net in the second half and finally did so when Iranian professional footballer Sardar Azmoun put Persians ahead with a stunning kick in the 58th minute.
Dmitry Dmitriyevich Poloz of Russia scored an equalizer in the 74th minute giving Iran’s goalkeeper Alireza Biranvand no chance to save.
Iran was the first Asian team to secure a spot at the 2018 FIFA World Cup when Persian footballers overcame Uzbekistan 2-0 at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in June.
Earlier on October 05, Portuguese head coach Carlos Queiroz’s boys managed to defeat Togo in another international friendly bout held in the capital city of Tehran.
Karim Ansarifard made a brace to give Iran the 2-0 lead in the match which was expected to give both national teams some final competitive testing before starting their World Cup campaigns in Russia.
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