Hamedan: Iraq will meet DPR Korea in the final of the AFC U-14 Championship after a brace from captain Mohammed Ridha sealed a thrilling 3-2 win over hosts Iran in the Monday’s second semi-finals.
The come-from-behind win was Iraq’s third win in the championship as only Tajikistan have denied them so far in the competition.
Besides Ridha’s two stunners, tournament’s leading scorer Mohanad Kadhim also added one to make his total tally four goals in four matches.
Iran looked promising in the beginning and soon in the 9th minute, captain Zabihollah Kohkan headed home Iran’s first of the match.
Midfielder Mohsen Godarzi set Kohkan up from the right and his captain connected a bullet header from point-blank range to secure an early lead.
The lead lasted only for three minutes after Kadhim struck his fourth of the championship with a simple tap-in. A fierce shot from Vahid Namdari deflected at the path of unmarked Kadhim who just had to guide the ball towards its destination for a precious equaliser.
Ridha scored a brace in the second-half and both the goals were identical. The dead-ball specialist young boy struck rightfooter from 20-yard area at the top corner of the net in the 33rd and 40th minutes when Iran defenders brought down Kadhim (on both occasions) forcing Iran coach Heidar Sharifi to change his goalkeeper Mohammadreza Goli.
“He has a God-gifted talent from that area,” Iraq coach Sadd Hashim praised the double-scorer after the match.
“In training here, he has already scored 20-30 times from there so we knew that a freekick around the penalty area could be a good opportunity for us to score,”
“We knew that we have to convert our opportunities and despite going down by a goal we kept our head cool and manage to win this important match.
“We are now inches closer but still need to work a lot to get the objectives,” added the Iraq coach.
Iran reduced the deficit but in the stoppage time through defender Taha Shariati who was given licence by the coach to play upfront after they were trailing by 3-1 with few minutes left.
Shariati served the purpose but there were hardly any times left after his goal.
“We tried our best but yes few mistakes at the back cost us the match,” coach Heidar Sharifi said.
“There were two main objectives for Iran team; one is to gain experiences of playing in the international competition and help grow these young kids as footballer and the other one is to win the championship.
“We got the first one but not the second. It does not matter, the main thing is to play good football, enjoy the football you play which you saw today at the pitch,” Sharifi added addressing the journalists.
DPR Korea defeated neighbours Korea Republic 3-1 in the penalty shootout earlier on the day to set up Wednesday’s final showdown against Iraq.