Tehran: Iran came from a goal down to defeat a Laos side that made the AFC U-16 Championship hosts work hard for the 3-1 victory in their Group A opener on Saturday.

Anousay Noyvong stunned the hosts when he put the South East Asians one-up with just two minutes on the PAS Stadium clock but Iran quickly gained the ascendancy with Amirmohammad Mazloum bagging a brace with goals either side of a Seyedmajid Hosseini effort after his initial spot-kick had been saved.

Iran, champions in 2008 and runners-up in 2000 in Vietnam, where the clear favourites going into Saturday’s second Group A fixture following Kuwait’s 1-1 draw with Yemen, but remarkably it was Laos that took the lead after just two minutes played through midfielder Anousay Noyvong.

However, parity was restored in the 17th minute when Amirmohammad Mazloum equalised at the second time of asking after Vathana Keodouangdeth had saved his initial effort.

The luckless Laotian was beaten again two minutes later when Seyedmajid Hosseini drilled home the rebound after Vathana had blocked the Iran skipper’s 19th minute penalty, awarded after midfielder Mohammadreza Bazaj was fouled in the box.

Iran were in the ascendancy but couldn’t add to their tally in the remainder of the first-half but just two minutes after the interval Mazloum got his second and the tournament hosts third as Ali Doustimehr’s side continued to assert their authority.

Iran dominated possession and with 15 minutes remaining Saeid Ezatolahi’s bullet header drew a fine reflex save from Vathana before Sasan Jafari headed wide from the resultant corner.

The pattern of the game continued but the earlier exertions of the players started taking their toll with numerous misplaced passes and mistimed tackles as Iran emerged with the three points that took them to the top of the Group A table after the first round of matches.

Iran coach Ali Doustimehr : ” think that we have the potential to be champions of this tournament.”

  Ali Doustimehr is confident that the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship hosts will get better as the tournament goes on following their sluggish start in their 3-1 win over Laos on Saturday.

Iran went into the match as favourites but the two-time U16 champions made heavy weather of their Group A opener, with Laos taking a shock second minute lead through Anousay Noyvong before the hosts quickly gained the ascendancy with Amirmohammad Mazloum bagging a brace with goals either side of a Seyedmajid Hosseini effort after his initial spot-kick had been saved.

The early goal stunned the home crowd at the PAS Stadium but Doustimehr brushed off the early setback as part-and-parcel of the game.

“This is the excitement of football. We lost the early goal but we didn’t lose our concentration,” the Iran coach said at the post-match press conference.

“I said before that the game against Laos would be very tough as it is the first game and the first game of every tournament is always difficult.

“I must say sorry to all the supports and the media who came to the stadium because we didn’t play at the level of champions.

“But hopefully we will get better game by game and I think that we have the potential to be champions of this tournament.”

Laos gave a brave account of themselves despite being under the Iranian cosh for the majority of the match and despite citing a number of logistical setbacks that effected the build-up to their Group A opener Laos’ North Korean coach Han Hyung-il was magnanimous in defeat.

“Our players’ technique is not as good as the Iranians,” he admitted.

“Nobody wants to lose and we will do our best in the remaining two matches.”

Source: the-Afc.com

Cairo

In a surprise announcement from Cairo , Amer Hussain the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) acting president said on Friday in a statement to the daily Al Ahram that Egypt will be playing Iran in a venue in the UAE on 12th October. Egypt was scheduled to play against Brazil on that day , however , financial dispute has resulted in cancellation of that match , although Hussain mentioned that the reason for the cancellation of the Brazil match was the busy schedule of the South American team !

Al Ahram statement mentioned that Egypt will play against Iran on 12 October after their scheduled friendly against Brazil was cancelled,  The national team will face Iran on 12 October and Tunisia four days later in the United Arab Emirates,” Amer Hussein told Al-Ahram’s Arabic language sports website.

“The contracts for both games will be signed within two days,” he added.

Egypt will hold a training camp in the UAE next month as they prepare for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

There was no word of confirmation from Tehran on that news. Team Melli are supposed to meet North Korea in preparation for the crucial match against the South Koreans , however , after the loss to Lebanon , it is reported that Carlos Queiroz had cold feet about that match and murmurs of cancellation has been reported in the media.

The Egyptians have unilaterally canceled a match against Team Melli in 2008 due to political reasons. The Iranian Football Federation  said that it will complain to football world governing body FIFA over Egypt’s decision to cancel that  friendly match because of a controversial film.

“This is a political issue and we will mention to FIFA that the Egyptians are mixing political issues with sports.” the head of Iran’s Football Federation, Ali Kafashian was quoted as saying by the state run television news website.

Iranian coach  at the time of the scheduled match , Ali Daei told the ISNA news agency: “Whether we like it or not sport has become intertwined with politics and sport is being used as an instrument in the hands of politicians.”

The Egyptian Football Association said that the match, scheduled for August 20 in the United Arab Emirates, had been cancelled due to tensions over an Iranian film on the assassination of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

The film, entitled “Assassination of a Pharaoh”, says Sadat was killed for signing the 1978 Camp David Accords that led to a 1979 peace treaty with Israel, the first by an Arab country.

“We have decided to cancel the match because of tensions in relations” between Cairo and Tehran following the airing of the documentary on the 1981 assassination, federation president Samir Zaher said.

“We have been in contact with the (Egyptian) foreign ministry during the last 10 days regarding the situation and we finally decided to cancel the match so it did not provoke in one way or another, further tensions,” he said.

Relations between Iran and Egypt have warmed after the fall of Hosny Mubark, with both countries signalling a willingness to restore ties.

The venue mentioned by the Egyptian for the match against Team Mellli is in itself an intriguing one as the United Arab Emirates cancelled a friendly match against the Islamic republic earlier this year  in a protest  against  a visit by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Tomb Bozorg and Tomb Kochik islands in the Persian Gulf claimed by UAE to be their territory.