The Hindu : Sport : Iran survives an Uzbek scare

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Thursday, Jul 12, 2007
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Sport

Iran survives an Uzbek scare

Saudi Arabia, South Korea split points

KUALA LUMPUR: Iran survived an early scare to beat Uzbekistan 2-1 on Wednesday and take a big step towards the Asian Cup knock-out stages, but the victory was soured when coach Amir Ghalenoei was sent off.

Normally unflappable defender Rahman Rezaei put the triple-champion in trouble with a first-half own goal before Seyed Jalal Hosseini levelled and substitute Javad Kazemian took the points with a late winner.

Meanwhile at Jakarta, Saudi Arabia salvaged a 1-1 draw against South Korea with a second-half penalty.

Iran’s coach Ghalenoei lived up to his reputation when he was red-carded late in the match for throwing a water bottle.

“I was angry at one of our players who lost the ball very easily,” said Ghalenoei, who appeared at the post-match press conference with a damp shirt.

“So I complained to him but the referee thought I was complaining at him (the referee), so I was sent off.”

Nervous

“Thank God we started with a win,” added Ghalenoei. “We didn’t know much about Uzbekistan so we had to assess them in the first half. Also we were a bit nervous.”

In front of a paltry crowd at Malaysia’s National Stadium, Uzbekistan was the first to threaten when Timur Kapadze met a cross from the left and headed straight at Iran goalkeeper Hassan Roudbarian.

Iran striker Vahid Hashemian, running on to an Ali Karimi ball, tested Uzbekistan’s Pavel Bugalo at the other end with a left-footed effort in the opening exchanges.

But Rezaei put Iran in serious difficulty on 16 minutes when, under pressure from striker Ulugbek Bakaev, he nodded a hopeful bouncing ball over advancing ’keeper Roudbarian.

However, the regional heavyweight emerged from the break with renewed purpose and was back on equal terms within 10 minutes when defender Hosseini headed captain Mehdi Mahdavikia’s corner down and into the net.

Osasuna midfielder Javad Nekounam headed straight at Bugalo and Kapadze had a one-on-one effort parried away by Iran’s Roudbarian as the game sprang to life.

But it was half-time substitute Kazemian who snatched it for Iran, running on to Andranik Teymourian’s through-ball and finishing coolly with his right foot on 77 minutes.

“Everyone said we would be afraid of Iran because they’re such a strong team but we also had very good chances to score,” said Uzbek coach Rauf Inileyev.

Iran is bidding to break a 31-year Asian Cup title drought after winning three in a row from 1968-1976.

Floodlights fail

At Jakarta, Saudi Arabia salvaged a 1-1 draw against South Korea with a second-half penalty in a match interrupted for 25 minutes due to floodlight failure. Saudi Arabian striker Yasser Al Qahtani fired home the penalty on 75 minutes after the Australian referee judged that Korean defender Oh Beom-seok pulled down striker Malek Maaz.

Just over 10 minutes earlier, Korea had taken the lead on a header by Choi Sung-kuk in what had mostly been a dull affair in the regional Asian soccer giants first match at this year’s Asian Cup.

The floodlight failure at the 84th minute will concern tournament organizers. Aside from Group D matches, the aging 88,000 capacity arena is due to host the final of the tournament on July 29.

When play resumed, Saudi Arabia had two great chances to win the match. Malek Maaz missed the target after being put through on goal and Saad Al Harthi saw a shot well saved by the Korean keeper. — Agencies

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