The Hindu : Zimbabwe qualifies for semifinals

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 28, 2003

Sport

Sport - Afro-Asian Games

Zimbabwe qualifies for semifinals

By S.R. Suryanarayan

HYDERABAD OCT. 27. Burkina Faso's 2-1 win against Iran win served just one purpose. Both the teams went out of contention while Zimbabwe's draw helped it qualify for the semifinals as the second team behind Uzbekistan from Group B in the football event on Monday in the Afro-Asian Games being held here.

With this the league phase has ended and after a day's rest on Tuesday, the semifinals on Wednesday will feature Group A winner India against Group B runner-up Zimbabwe while Group B winner Uzbekistan will take on Group A runner-up Rwanda.

If Zimbabwe had lost to Uzbekistan and had Iran beaten Burkina Faso by over a five goal margin Iran could have joined Uzbekistan in the last four. But at the Lal Bahadur stadium it was a case of Iran struggling to find its touch against a resilient Burkina Faso, which enjoyed its first win.

With atleast five players in the side who are likely to figure in the national squad for the Youth World Cup in the Emirates next month, Burkina Faso was keen to perform well.

What surprised everyone was that the Iranian team was actually its Navy club team. "We had come at the invitation of India. We had expected our team to do well but it did only to a limit", said the coach N. Irandoost, through an interpreter. "Our main team and the Olympic team are busy in other engagements", he added.

The earlier information provided was that Iran's Under-23 squad would come and surely the reigning Asian Games champion was expected to be a big draw. The poor performance and now the confession. Need anything more be said about the competition!

In a lacklustre contest, Burkina Faso held the upper hand in terms of exchanges and ball possession but the inability to finish delayed its progress. The first goal came in injury time of the first session and it was Amara who conceived it with a clever long diagonal. Even as the Iran goalkeeper charged out, Diallo Abdoul had moved in like a predator to effect the `kill' with a drive.

Early in the second session (50th minute), a regulation flag kick by Roland evoked a perfect header by Bationo Germain. Play thereafter descended to frequent fouls and the referee had a busy time with bookings (eight yellow and two red cards). Lassina (Burkina Faso) and Ahmad Jamshidyan (Iran) were the players who got the marching orders. It was a disappointing spectacle and nothing typified the mood of the teams better than the way Burkina Faso's Mamadou netted an `own goal' (81st). In the official list, however, the scorer is Iran's Hassan Ashjari because he had crossed the ball from the near side.

At Goshamahal, Zimbabwe and Uzebekistan took turns to dominate. The African nation went ahead in the 12th minute through Leonard Tsida's header off David Sengu's long ball. Uzbekistan restored parity in the 50th minute off a free kick which resulted in Suyunov Ihomjon placing the ball in.

The results: Burkina Faso 2 bt Iran 1; Uzbekistan 1 drew with Zimbabwe 1.

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