Saturday, 03 November 2012 18:49

Ras Al Khaimah: Iran coach Akbar Mohammadi Argi praised for his players for their high level of concentration as the Iranians kicked-off their AFC U-19 Championship 2012 Group A campaign with a 2-0 victory over Japan on Saturday. Iran took the lead just two minutes into a highly-charged encounter at the Emirates Club Stadium through Behnam Barzay’s header before substitute midfielder Hossein Fazeli scored with his only his second touch in the 56th minute to settle the contest between the two Group A favourites. The win took Iran to the top of the Group A table with three points while UAE and Kuwait, who played 1-1 draw earlier, are in second and third place leaving the Japanese reeling at the bottom of the standings without a point. “I must praise my players for high level of concentration. Maybe the score suggests it was an easy affair but it was not. The Japanese were very strong and both the sides were struggling to find the space,” Argi (pictured) told reporters after the match. “But in that tussle we found more spaces and created more chances and scored two goals so everything went right today. “I know this team can perform better than this. You will see a much-improved Iran side in the upcoming matches but we must remain on our feet as Kuwait and the UAE are also very good teams and anything can happen in football,” he said. Argi’s counterpart Yasushi Yosihda lamented his side bad day at the office but with two matches remaining he remained confident Japan could turn things around. “This is very sad defeat for the whole of Japanese football but we are still there. We have two matches to play and six points should be enough for us to progress,” he said. Yosihda, who was without Japan’s second highest scorer in the qualifiers Minami Shuto through an ankle injury, also revealed that he tried to change the tactics in the second half but his strategy didn’t plan out as hoped. “I tried my best. I replaced a striker for a midfielder but the main cause of our defeat started at the beginning when we conceded so early before the players were settled into the match. “Once we were a goal down, the players came under pressure and we never recovered,” he said.

 

Team Melli U-19 defeated Japan 2-0 in the first match of group A of the AFC U-19 Asian Championship in Ras Al Khaima today. An Early goal by Behnam Barzay in the 3rd minute from a powerful header and another goal from substitute Fazeli scored in the second half, sealed the win and 3 points for Iran.

Team Melli shocked Japan, the title contender and 6 times finalist, with an early goal in the 3rd minute. Behnam Barzay towering over all the Japanese defenders to head home from a corner. The Japanese were not too concerned and played strongly with heir usual offensive and disciplined style, however almost all their attacks were broken by the “Wave-breaker” like Iranian solid defense.

This pattern continued throughout the match as despite more possession , Japan failed to really threaten Mohammad Naseri  in Iran’s goal. Whatever balls that were filtered to the Iranian goalkeeper , he dealt with easily.

Just before the hour mark , Fazeli scored the second goal for Team Melli from his first touch of the ball. The substitute player scored from a rebounded shot off the woodwork that hit the Japanese goalkeeper. Fazeli tapped the ball in after the Japanese defenders failed to control the ball.

The rhythm of the match continued however , Iran was clearly the more dangerous as the woodwork saved the Japanese from 3 goals. The Japanese disciplined play was no match for the powerful and more individually skilful Iranians.

Team Melli will be meeting UAE in the next match on Monday. The host drew with Kuwait 1-1 in the same group in an earlier match.

Match Details

AFC U-19 CHAMPIONSHIP 2012				FINAL ROUND
	03-11-2012 21:00 GST		Emirates Stadium, Ras al-Khaimah, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

JAPAN vs. IRAN

0 – 2

Goals   Behnam Barzay 3′ – Hossein Fazeli 56′

Referee:     ABDUL MALIK ABDUL BASHIR (SINGAPORE)

Japan : Kushibiki Masatoshi  (GK) ; Matsubara Ken ,  Endo Wataru (c), Nara Tatsuki (77; Tanabe Ryota) , Yamanaka Ryosuke , Kumagai Andrew ,  Notsuda Gakuto (61′ Onose Kosuke),  Kubo Yuya , Ohshima Ryota , Watari Daiki ( 46′ Yajima Shinya), Matsumoto Masaya .

Coach: Yoshida Yashushi

Iran:  Mohammad Naseri (GK); Yousef Vakia, Hossein Kanani , Ahmad Abdollahzadeh,  Mohammad hossein Mor , Mohammad Ali Faramarzi, Farshid Esmaeili, Alireza Jahan bakhsh (c), Ali Choopani (56; Hossein Fazeli) , Behnam Barzay (66′ Ehsan Pahlavan), Sardar Azmoun  ( 80′ Amin JahanKohan)

Coach: Akbar Mohammadi

YelloW card: Ahmad Abdollahzadeh (IRN)