TUNIS – A fortunate own goal handed Tunisia a 1-0 victory over Iran in their friendly clash on a waterlogged pitch in Tunis on Friday, in what was a morale boosting result for the World Cup-bound north Africans.
Wahbi Khazri proved the talisman for the home side and it was his dribbling run that led to the 71st minute winner. Khazri’s shot was parried by Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand into the path of defender Milad Mohammadi, who could only turn the ball into his own net.
Carlos Queiroz started the match with 7 regular plays missing but welcoming back the veteran Captain Masoud Shojaei who played in the first half.
Despite the water-logged pitch , Team Melli played a fluent game with many passing moves into the host box. In fact , if it was not for that perennial problem that Iran seem to always have with Arab referees, Team Melli would have been awarded a penalty in what looked a like a very obvious foul in the penalty box on Karim Ansarifard. To the horror of the Olympiakos forward, the Egyptian referee played on. Several replays by the Tunisian referee only made the case of a penalty that much stronger.
The new defensive line up at the back stood well against the quick and agile Tunisian ,however , there was very few serious attempt at Biranvand goal.
The first half ended goal less.
In the second half and with many substitution, the game lost a bit of its excitement. Team Melli was the more organized in the middle of the field , but the problem was in the forward line. Absence of Taremi and Azmoun was quite noticeable up front ad neither Ansarifard nor Ghoocannejad managed to seriously threaten the Tunisia goal. Both forwards struggled to convince as an attacking force. Kaveh Rezaei did not fare much better either.
A glorious chance for Team Melli to score was wasted by substitute Mehdi Torabi when he hit the sky with the Tunisia keeper stranded.
Tunisia, who share the same World Cup group with Belgium, England and Panama, might have had a second soon after but Khazri’s powerful close range effort was well saved.
Iran were using the match to approximate the playing style of Morocco, who share their group in Russia with Portugal and Spain.
A dipping free kick from captain Ehsan Hajsafi in the 67th minute, saved by Tunisia’s Farouk Ben Mustapha, was the closest Iran came to scoring.
Vahid Amiri , so reliable on the flanks during the World Cup qualifiers lacked his normal agility and pace. Alireza Jahanbakhsh was introduced too late to make an impact.
Overall, the loss to Tunisia , gave Queiroz some good insight inb the capabilties of the second string team.
Team Melli’s take another north African country, Algeria, in Graz, Austria on Tuesday.