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Saudi Arabia, Iran tie 1-1 before 120,000 TEHRAN, Iran September 19 - (AP) Goalkeeper Mohammed Doayed stopped a penalty by Karim Bagheri in the first half and Saudi Arabia survived a series of scares to get a 1-1 draw with Iran before a crowd of 120,000 on Friday in a second-round Asian World Cup qualifier. The Iranians attacked aggressively from the beginning and tested Doaye several times. Doaye saved scores of long-range shots, including Bagheri's 28th-minute penalty, and enabled Saudi Arabia to go ahead in the 34th minute on a goal by Ibrahim Suweid. Iran appeared to tie in the 42nd minute on a goal by Ali Daei, but Japanese referee Masayoshi Okada disallowed it because of the play being offside. The hosts increased their pressure in the second half and Bagheri made amends by drawing Iran level in the 62nd minute. Iran pushed all of its players forward and the Saudis launched their own counterattacks and came close to scoring several times. The draw left both sides with 1-1-0 records and four points atop Group A, the winner of which qualifies for the World Cup. Qatar, Kuwait and China are the other teams in the group. Saudi Arabia and Iran meet again in Riyadh on October 24. Teams Iran:Ahmad reza Abadzadeh, Mohammad Khakpour, Mohammad Ali Peirovani,
Ali Akbar Ostad Asadi, Mehdi Mahdavi, Mehrdad Minavand, Ali Daei, Karim Bagheri,
Alireza Mansourian, Hamid Rezi Estili, Ali Asghar Rousta. Referee: Masayoshi Okada, Japan. |