Tabriz: Iran needed extra time to see off the plucky challenge of Lebanon, winning 3-2 to seal their place in the semi-finals of the AFC U-20 Futsal Championship IR Iran 2019 on Tuesday.
Iran will play Japan in Thursday's semi-final after the East Asians defeated 2017 runners-up Iraq in their last eight tie earlier on Tuesday.
The other semi-final will see Indonesia taking on Afghanistan.
Iran entered the match as clear favorites after progressing into the quarter-finals undefeated as Group A winners. On top of that, the host nation had also beaten Lebanon two years ago at the same stage.
Lebanon, meanwhile, lost to Thailand two days ago to finish Group B runners-up, but were looking to shock Iran.
The opening minutes were equal but Iran gradually gained more possession of the ball as the game wore on, and were creating more opportunities with their quick passes.
In one such instance in the eighth minute, Iran forced the Lebanon players to come forward leaving unmarked Ali Aghapour plenty of space and time to send the ball past goalkeeper Victor Hanna Gerges for Iran to take the lead.
Lebanon, however, were undaunted and kept pressing and despite not finding the equalizer, would have taken heart from the fact that they only trailed by one at the half-time break.
Iran’s dominance continued well into the second half but failed to increase their lead thanks to a rock solid Lebanese defending.
Sahand Rezapour came close to doubling Iran’s lead in the 34th minute after beating two defenders but smashed his right-footed effort against the post.
Determined to extend their stay in the AFC U-20 Futsal Championship, Lebanon sent on Hussein Hamieh as the power player in the 38th minute and his impact was instant.
Iranian goalkeeper Mohammadali Niknamtoghabe, who had been untroubled for most of the second period, was called into action moments later to pull off a double save to deny Hamieh and Mohamad Elkaisst.
Iran were left to rue their missed opportunities when Lebanon’s Jamal Selwan found the back of the net with a quick twist and turn strike, to force extra time.
The woodwork continued to be Iran’s main adversary in extra time, as Rezapour struck the upright again after Reza Ghanbarisaeidabad’s free-kick deflected off the Lebanese wall in the 43rd minute.
It took Iran 37 minutes to find their second goal, and Aghapour received all the credit with his crackling strike from near the half-line mark into the top right corner of the net that left Hanna Gerges rooted to the ground.
Aghapour turned provider in the 48th minute through a corner set-piece, and Ghanbarisaeidabad directed the ball into the net with ease to make it 3-1.
Captain Steve Koukezian pulled one back a minute later, but Lebanon still suffered heartbreak as Iran held on to book their place in the last four.
Hamid Moghadam: IR Iran head coach
“I don’t know why this happens to Iranian teams a lot when the easiest game becomes the hardest game. Maybe it’s got to do with the mentality, and we need to change that. I didn’t expect such a hard game, and that the match would be a draw. We lost so many chances, and if we had utilized our chances, we wouldn’t have been under pressure. Not scoring goals and the ball not going into the area is two different things. We had created many chances, and sometimes you’re unlucky in scoring. We hit the crossbar so many times I lost count, but that’s futsal."
Tarek Rizk: Lebanon head coach
“Honestly, after the match against Thailand, people said this would be the easiest quarter-final. I told my players that it was not my team against Thailand, and we tried to adjust it. Previously, we knew we couldn’t compete with Thailand, and Iran wasn’t far from it. So we adjusted our mistakes and defended from our hearts and mind. I’m so proud of my boys, so proud that the Lebanese futsal committee trusted me and I hope that we have given a good image of Lebanese futsal as we look forward.”
According to Emarati media, the UAE football federation prepared a file containing official documents proving act of fraud by Qatar in the naturalization of several players, specifically Iraqi Bassam Al-Rawi and Sudanese AlMoez Ali.
Qatar comprehensively defeated host UAE 4-0 in the semi-finals amid shameful scenes from the hostile and abusive local fans which started from booing the national anthem of Qatar, to throwing objects at Qatar players and chanting abusive politically driven chants in the stands.
The official campaign of ill treatment of Qatar began before any ball was kicked in the tournament starting with denying access to 5 Qatari journalist and then Saoud al-Mohannadi , the Qatari official and senior Asian Cup tournament organizer was denied entry 24 hours earlier, amid a simmering diplomatic dispute between the two countries.
Saoud al-Mohannadi, is vice-president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Qatar Football Association, he is also standing for the upcoming election of AFC presidency against the current president Salman bin Khalifa.
While the Asian Cup was being played, there was hardly any day without UAE media news and editorials attacking Qatar in an orchestrated move by the authorities to undermine the gas-rich Persian Gulf State and disturb the team’s concentration. The effect of political conflict cum animosity was clearly felt in the Mohammed Bin Zayed stadium among the local fans.
Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain are the four countries that have broken diplomatic relations with Qatar and closed all their skies, ports and land access to Qatari vehicles, goods and people. There was no Qatari fans in any of the Qatar matches, however small pockets of Omani fans shown their support for Qatar during this tournament. There was no Qatari press or photographers in the UAE.
China was well beaten by Team Melli and much credits should go for one player, Sardar Azmoun. The Ruben Kazan forward was on a mission and he succeeded by mixture of strength, skill and determination. The Chinese defense, in truth, had a big role in the defeat of their team with some poor defending and suspect decision making.
China, however, was not a minnow team and did not lack the skills required at such level of football. They are guided by one of the world best and famous coaches in Marcello Lippi. A world Cup winner and a coach who has a trail of trophies behind him. Queiroz, on the other hand, out foxed the master in every department and his team came out a clear winner.
Queiroz has masterfully rotated the team for this tournament. He is the envy of the rest of the teams in UAE because he is spoiled for choices in every department. The absence of Vahid Amiri was not even felt. Hopefully , the same will be true against Japan when Mehdi Taremi will be missing due to his suspension.
Team Melli dominated the center and at times defended deep. their teamwork was a delight to watch. On my occasions, the series of short and fast passes interchanged between the players intimidated the Chinese who were chasing shadows. Despite the fact that most of the goals came either from long balls or route one followed by a Chinese defense blunder, that doe not hide the fact that Iran was the better team in all departments.
To be able to take advantage of the opposition mistakes , you need the quality player to do that. Team Melli had the right quality to punish mistakes by opposition defenders.
If there were some negative points, they were the same ones that were mentioned in other matches too and that is the wastefulness of the forwards, particularly Mehdi Taremi. It is very difficult to criticize a player who scored one goal and provided an assist for another, but Taremi was really appalling when he missed an open goal from a few meters after the ball was given to him on a plate by a perfect header from Kanani-Zadegan. It was a shocking miss!
Overall, it was an emphatic win in the quarter final of the AFC Asian Cup. Now……Bring on Japan.
