the-afc.com reports

Ras Al Khaimah: It was the proverbial ‘bad day at the office’ for Iran as one of the AFC U-19 Championship favourites were sent packing by a rampant Korea Republic, who eased to a stunning 4-1 win in Sunday’s quarter-final.

The Iranians were in impressive form during the group stage but they were a shadow of the side that had scored nine and conceded just one ahead of their last-eight fixture but the Koreans were superior in every department as the East Asians ran out comfortable winners.

“This was the worst day for us…just a bad day,” Argi lamented in the posy-match press conference,

“I don’t think that the result was because of the difference in the quality of the two sides I think it was largely due to our poor luck. We ran out of luck.”

Iran had to chase the match in both the halves with Moon Chang-jin’s second minute goal putting the Koreans on top before Alireza Jahan Bakhsh pulled one back for the four-time champions.

The Iranians fell behind for the second time four minutes into the second half when Lee Gwang-hun made it 2-1 and as Iran chased the game they were caught by two late goals on the counterattack through Kim Seung-jun (81st) and Kwon Chang-hoon (90+5) as Korea Republic sealed their place in the semi-finals and their ticket to the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

“We conceded two early goals in both halves and if you ask me, they were both avoidable goals,” continued Argi.

“My defenders did not have a great time due to the physical approach of the Koreans. They are just 18-year old kids so sometimes you cannot control them.

“On the top of that, we could have scored more than a couple of goals in the first half and we failed to do that too.”

Lee Kwang-jong, the head coach of Korea Republic, hailed his side’s attitude and congratulated his young team for making it to the World Cup.

“I must congratulate them for playing superb football today,” he said.

“We knew Iran is a team with physical strength and good tactics so we were concentrating more on the defensive game in the first half.

“Our main strength over the Iranians was our speed so once the Iranian defenders started getting tired we relied on our pace and made it relatively easier though it was not an easy match at all.

“The good sign from the match is that in the group stages we were struggling to get goals despite creating a number of chances in all our matches but today it was a different story, the boys scoring goals at will.”

Colombia defeated Iran in the FIFA Futsal World Cup round of 16 match to register a major surprise. The match ended 2-1 in favor of the South American debutant team.

Iran dominated the match in its entirety and every piece of statistics showed the superiority of the Iranian team , however and crucially , Iran failed to convert their chances and were shocked when a rare counter attack and weak goalkeeping by Nazari allowed the Colombians to take the lead in the second half.

A defining moment came when Taybi was red carded after a blatant play acting by the Colombian when he faked injury.after a slight clash between him and the Iranian player. The goalkeeper rolled as if he was hit by a bullet as the Russian referee brandished a red card for Taybi who vehemently protested his innocence. The Replay showed the slightest of contacts when the goalkeeper went to grab the ball and there definitely was no intent to harm by the Iranian player.

With one player down , Colombia grabbed this opportunity and managed to score the 2nd goal. Iran pulled one back through Rahnama , but the Colombians excellent tight defense sealed a famous win for the South Americans team and ended the hope of Iran.

After the exit of Iran’s U-19 team and the defeat against Korea Rep, this was a black day for Iranian football fans with two bitter failures virtually minutes away from each other.

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In what looked like total collapse, Team Melli U-19 went down 4-1 against their nemesis Korea Rep, in the quarter finals of the AFC U-19 championship 2012 in Ras Al Khaima.

In what was expected to be a tough and close encounter , the Koreans scored early to put psychological pressure on Iran making them chase the game. Iran eventually scored the equalizer through their best player of the tournament , Alireza Jakan Baksh, to end the half all square for both teams. However , there was a lot to be desired from Iran’s tactical game.

In the second half , the Koreans came out much more determined and organized than the first half. It was no surprise when they scored the second goal while Iranian lost their way with for too much errors in passing and being caught out on the counter offensive moves.

The biggest surprise was the way the defense of Team Melli U-19 has collapsed against an organized and pacy Koreans. The South Asians torn Iran’s defense apart and scored further two goals , but they also missed as many. Only fate saves the Iranians a serious embarrassment and a big score line defeat,

The match ended 4-1 and it was yet another failure for Iran at this level. There was so much hope and so much promise from this team, but it all collapsed in a day of futile and feeble performance and against a powerhouse which was quite astute ,  organized and disciplined in all fronts

Korea Rep. booked its place in the semi-final to meet Uzbekistan and more importantly booked a place to the FIFA World Cup U- 20 championship in Turkey next year. For Iran , it is back to the drawing board. Iran U-19 team has to start from scratch, although quite a few of this talented team can readily make it to the next age level team.

Ras Al Khaimah: Korea Republic coach Lee Kwang-jong has vowed to maintain his offensive tactics in Sunday’s quarter-final against Iran, the team he rates as the best in the tournament so far.

The 11-team champions advanced to the last eight as runners-up in Group B following a goalless draw with table-toppers Iraq and victories over Thailand (2-1) and China (1-0) while Group A winners Iran have been in imperious form defeating title contenders Japan 2-0 and Kuwait 6-0 either side of a 1-1 draw with tournament hosts UAE.

“So far, Iran have emerged as the team to beat in this competition,” Lee stated at the pre-match press conference.

“What I have seen of them so far is that they are very good in attack but our philosophy will be the same and that is attack first then defend so let’s hope this will be a good match for the audience.”

While Lee would be delighted to extend Korea’s tournament win record to 12, he also has one eye on the future with The 2014 Olympic Games in Brazil featuring in the mind of the Korean coach.

“This team will develop as our Olympic team so we are trying our best to ensure they got lots of international exposure by winning this quarter-final and qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

“It was very disappointing that our under 16s failed to make it to the World Cup following their defeat in the quarter-finals of the AFC U-16 Championship and we don’t want a repeat of that disappointment here.”

Having successfully negotiated the group stage Iran coach Akbar Argi is ready to embrace the knockout phase of the competition, starting with Sunday’s showdown between two sides he sees as amongst the continent’s best.

“To be honest our journey in the competition starts tomorrow,” said Argi, who will be missing the services of suspended striker Sardar Azmoun, who scored in the 6-0 win over Kuwait.

“I was always confident we would get through the group stage given the strength of the opponents and now all eight teams in the knockout stage are capable of winning this competition.

“The Koreans are one of the big names in Asian football and they are the record 11-time champions of this competition so we will be showing them the utmost respect.

“Having said that, I believe in my players and their qualities. It will be a highly-charged match with both sides going all out for the win so I guess the spectators can look forward to enjoying a match between two of the top Asian footballing nations.”

Team Melli continued the preparation for the match on Wednesday. On friday , the training was conducted in Azadi stadium. Ali Karimi was declared unfit for the match vs the Uzbek as the result of the MRI showed that the midfielder could be out for more than 4 weeks because of torn muscles.

Meanwhile , Ando Teymourian who was injured and substituted during his club’s match in Qatar and feared that he might miss the Uzbekistan match , commenced his training and is quite hopeful to make it by Wednesday. The medical staff will have to test him to ensure his match fitness.

The other absentee from training is Ashkan Dejagah who is still in London and could feature in his club match against Arsenal. The Fulham midfielder would be flying to Tehran after the match on Saturday. He should be in the camp by Monday at the latest.

Notable absentees from the match will include Masoud Shojae who was dismissed from the match reciving a red card against Korea Rep., Ehsan Hajsafy and Hadi Aghili both were not selected by Queiroz , Mohammad Ghazi on injury list.

Uzbekistan team began preparations for the match against Iran on November 8th.
Head coach Mirjalol Kasymov summoned 27 players to the training camp.The squad will assemble on November 12 in Tashkent, after two days of training , the Uzbek squad will fly to Tehran, on the 14th of November two days ahead of the the 6th round match of qualifying round of 2014 World Cup against Iran. The final team roster will include 23 players only.

Uzbekistan squad

Goalkeepers
1 Ignatiy Nesterov     “Bunyodkor”
2 Murodjon Zukhurov     “Nasaf”
3 Sardor Kabuldzhanov     “Bukhara”

Defenders
4  Shohruh Gadoev     “Nasaf”
5  Vitaliy Denisov     “Dnepr”, Ukraine
6  Yegor Krimets     “Pakhtakor”
7  Shaukat Mulladzhanov     “Al Nasr”, Saudi Arabia
8  Akmal Shorahmedov     “Bunyodkor”
9  Islom Tuhtahodzhaev     “Locomotive”
10 Artem Filiposyan     “Bunyodkor”
11 Islom Inomov     “Locomotive”

Midfielders
12 Odil Akhmedov     “Anji”, Russia
13 Vadim Afonin     “Shurtan”
14 Server Djeparov     “Al-Shabab” Saudi Arabia
15 Fozil Musayev     “Nasaf”
16 Aziz Haydarov     “Al-Shabab”, UAE
17 Timur Kapadze     “Aktobe”, Kazakhstan
18 Oleg Zoteev     “Olmalik”
19 Stanislav Andreev     “Pakhtakor”
20 Jasur Hasanov     “Bunyodkor”
21 Sanjar Tursunov     “Alania”, Russia

Forwards
22 Ivan Nagaev     “Dinamo”
23 Marat Bikmaev     “Aktobe”, Kazakhstan
24 Vladimir Shishelov     “Nasaf”
25 Alexander Geynrikh     “Aktobe”, Kazakhstan
26 Igor Taran     “Shўrtan”
27 Ulugbek Bakaev     “Irtysh”, Kazakhstan

Team Melli climbed up 14 places in the monthlky FIFA ranking to the 44th place with 611 points.

According to the latest FIFA ranking released on Wednesday, Iran rose to 44th place with 611 points after series of declines in the months before.

One of the best results for Carlos Queiroz’s team, was the defeat of South Korea 1-0 on October 16 in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. A win which carries valauble points across.

Iran is still fourth place in the contenental ranking behind. Japan on top of Asian teams with 810 points followed by South Korea with 728 and Australia with 719 points respectively.

Bangkok.

During the final group match of FIFA Futsal World Cup Thailand 2012 that was held on Thursday in Bangkok , Mostafa Tayebi was taken of the area with severe nose bleeding after a  clash with a Panamanian player.

While Tayebi was trying to tackle the ball , the Panamanian player swung his arm and hit Tayebi’s face, which lead him to fall on the deck with blood streaming. Apparently it was a severe case as Tayebi had to be rushed to the hospital from the arena for urgent medical attention.

After the match ended , the Panama coach asked all his players to go to the Iranian team’s dressing room to apologize for that unintentional incident which hospitalized one of the Iranian quality players.

Latest reports indicate that Tayebi’s condition is stable and has been released from the hospital;. There is no world on whether he will be available for the last 16 round match.

Meanwhile,  Hamid Ahmadi will not be available for Iran’s team after receiving his 2nd yellow card of the tournament. Ahamadi will be absent against Colombia or Guatemala in the next round.

Iran’s Futsal team defeated the C3ntral American representative 4-3 to make it to the last 16 of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Thailand 2012.

In a tight match that was marred by many wasted chances from Team Melli , the Panamanians were a tough nut to crack with their solid defense and strong attack. Iran took an early lead through Ahmad Esmailpour  (3’00”) , before the Panamanians equalized through  Claudio GOODRIDGE (5’13”)

Before the end of the first half , Afshin KAZEMI (13’02”) and Mohammad TAHERI (18’44”) scored for Iran for the first half to finish 3-1.

The second half saw a much better organized Panama and with their determined and spirited playing , they managed to get their second goal through a a penalty converted by
Carlos PEREZ (34’12”) to make it a nervous few minutes for Team Melli.

Mohammad TAHERI eased the pressure on the team and the fans by scoring Iran’s fourth before Alquis ALVARADO (39’21”) scored from a stunning shot seconds before the whistle. It was a goal too late for the Panamanians who displayed good spirit but coud not match Iran’s skill and experience.

Esmailpour ,  Ahmadi and Rahnama received yellow cards in this match,

With 2 wins and a draw , Iran finished 2nd in the group behind Spain on same points but inferior goal difference. Team Melli will be playing against the second of group F in the last 16 round on November 11th in Bangkok. The opponents will be either Guatemala or Colombia.